


Endosymbiosis

by VerseSystem



Series: Symbiosis Trilogy [1]
Category: Warframe
Genre: Abusive Parents, Anticapitalist Gay Space Robots, F/F, LGBTQ Jewish Character(s), Lesbians in Space, Margulis's Jewishness will be much more prominent in the second book, Minor Character Death, Multiplicity/Plurality, No Lesbians Die, Nonbinary Character, Transphobia, robot lesbians can U-haul too, tikkun olam in space
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-29
Updated: 2019-03-29
Packaged: 2019-12-25 23:04:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 24,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18270938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VerseSystem/pseuds/VerseSystem
Summary: It is the middle of the Old War. Margulis has helped the Tenno as much as she can, but has lost the Seven's favor. However, she is not the only one to reject the extreme violence that both warring factions display. On the other side of the conflict, a Sentient breaks away from the rest of zer kind, and a cross-species partnership is formed with the goal of protecting the innocent and bringing peace. And so a third faction in the struggle is created, known publicly as the Lotus.This is an AU where the writers don't hate women and people are allowed to be genuinely nice without being secretly evil.





	1. Chapter 1

“ _Seven hands raised! For your apostasy the judgement is... death.”_

The unwelcome memory once again forced itself into her mind. Seven hands, so she had been told, but to her sightless eyes it may as well have been seven thousand. Even a single hand raised in favor would be unconscionable in a vote against the lives of children, and the whole of the Orokin were complicit in such a miscarriage of justice. But it was done now: at dawn tomorrow she would be executed, and soon afterward the last survivors of the Zariman Ten-Zero disaster would meet the same fate.

Margulis sat in meditation among the many plants of her greenhouse laboratory. The Seven had not bothered to arrange for a prison cell, perhaps thinking it a waste of resources for such a short stay, or perhaps that the condemned scientist simply posed no threat of violence or escape. Whatever the reason, house arrest had been the sentence, and Margulis savored the smells of flowers all around her in her final hours. The sound of gently trickling and misting water was soothing, and as the air shifted she got whiffs of every specimen around her. Every one of her plants was endangered for some reason or another, and a few species only existed within the confines of her various greenhouses. What would become of them once she was gone? She supposed they too would go extinct, snuffed out by the same greedy, uncaring Orokin empire that had destroyed their habitats to begin with.

A knock came at the door, three quick raps interrupting her silent contemplation. She had gotten used to not knowing who was approaching her, in the months following her accidental blinding at the hands of one of the Void-altered children. It _was_ accidental, she knew that, not that the trigger-happy Orokin leaders seemed to care. No voice came from the doorway, and Margulis supposed it was simply the single guard posted outside looking in on her again, to make sure she hadn’t smashed a window and slit her wrists on the glass. They couldn’t have someone scheduled for execution dying too early now. Where’s the fun in that? Where’s the public spectacle?

The knocks came again. Could it really be someone polite enough to wait before opening the door? More likely the guard had simply set his key down on a shelf and forgotten it a moment ago. “Come in,” Margulis called, on the chance that she really did have a visitor. The door swung open with a slight creak, and Margulis listened for the thud of booted footsteps but heard none. Not a soldier then, not her once-friend Ballas, but someone else she could not identify.

“Archimedean Margulis,” an unfamiliar voice said, “it is an honor to meet you. I have been following your work closely.” It was neutral in pitch and cadence, and there was a slight crackle behind the words, like the speaker had something in their throat.

Was it a fan of her botanical research? Now was not the time to be taking on a new apprentice. She could only hope the training she had passed down already would be enough to continue the conservation effort. “I’m sorry, who is this? I’m afraid I can’t see you — you must have heard about my condition?” She raised one hand to her face. “If you wish to learn from me, you’re too late. Please, just find one of my students. Leave me to my meditation.”

“Actually, I am here about your other work.” There was a pause. “The plants are impressive, though. What are these flowers here on the water?”

“Over there?” Margulis pinpointed the location of her visitor and thought about the layout of the greenhouse. “You’re probably looking at the lotuses. A true relic there — those plants trace their ancestors all the way back to Ancient Earth. They’ve survived every war, every catastrophe, even our exodus to space, all without significant mutation.” Margulis smiled for the first time since her judgement. “If I had to pick a favorite flower, that might just be the one.”

“But you said you’re not here for plants.” Margulis narrowed her eyes, the gesture still ingrained despite the loss of her sight. “You’re talking about the Zariman children?” she asked, incredulous. “Are they not to be killed like I am? Do not show any sympathy for them outside this room, or you may be next yourself.” She sighed and shook her head. “I have done what I can for them, I have protected them this long and given them what comfort was possible, and that will have to be enough.”

The voice came now from the other side of the room. Whoever this visitor was, they must be light on their feet. “I believe we can still save them.”

“We? Who are you? And why are you foolish enough to commit the same crime as me, knowing how it will end?”

“Would you believe me if I told you?” The voice now came from just behind where Margulis was sitting, and still she had not heard footsteps approach.

Margulis stubbornly refused to turn around. “Depends what you tell me,” she said. “Go on, spit it out.”

“Would you believe me if I said... I am a Sentient defector?”

Margulis burst out laughing at the thought. “A defector, from that hive-mind? No drone could ever disobey like that. They’re as bound to their master as the Dax.”

“Is this what your people believe? That there is but a single mind behind the Sentient hordes? No, each one of us is an army, but there are several commanders. Me, my father, the elder currently besieging the planet below, a handful of others. I have seen what we are doing to your people and I no longer want any part of it.

“So many of the dead in this war are innocent. Even your soldiers often fight against their will. And for what? The Orokin deserve to die, but the people like you? The humans who have never touched that accursed substance kuva? Why should you suffer? I admit, I too have participated in this genocide. I do not ask forgiveness for all that I have done to your people, to your worlds, but if you will trust me when I say I have had enough... there may still be hope. We share the same goals. Let us work together to protect the innocent, starting with those children to whom you’ve devoted your final year.”

Margulis weighed the words she had just heard, trying to decide if she should believe them. She had to admit it was plausible. Hovering drones would explain the lack of audible footsteps. Radio static could explain the scratchy voice. And this person certainly spoke as if they had a Sentient perspective on the war...

“What have you got to lose?” the Sentient asked, echoing Margulis’s own thoughts. “Come with me. I can save your life, so that you can save theirs.”

“If you’re really one of them... why do you need me? You’re trashing top of the line warships right and left. Humans are powerless next to you. What could I possibly do that the Sentients couldn’t?”

“Destruction is easy. But salvation, and mercy… those are much more difficult. In this particular case, the children trust you but would attack me,” ze explained. “Besides, is it really too much to believe that you too could be an innocent life worth saving?” Now speaking from right in front of Margulis, the voice continued, “Reach out, touch proof of my identity. And please come to a decision soon; neither of us can stay here forever.”

Margulis did as she was instructed and slowly reached out one hand in front of her. Her fingers met with smooth metal and she gently traced over it, building a visual outline in her mind. A hollow central body, thick cylindrical club-arms... this was a conculyst. A type of drone commonly seen on every battlefield, spinning in circles to smash through flesh and metal alike.

“Don’t rush me now, I’ve still got four scenarios to think through. If you’re lying, and I don’t trust you, then nothing changes. I die, and they die. If you’re telling the truth, but I don’t trust you, then I die... the children shoot your well-meaning drones on sight, and then they die too. If I trust you but you’re lying, I die a little sooner, but probably no more horrifically than what’s already planned. But if I trust you, and you’re being truthful... I suppose there’s a chance we might not all die.” Margulis stood up, grinning like a madwoman. “Alright, let’s do it. What’s the plan?”

“Take this,” said the voice, and a large metal object was pressed into her hands. Margulis turned it over to examine it, feeling a round cavity framed by metal and padded on the inside, with some kind of inaccessible compartment a little off center on the top. “Place it on your head. No, the other way. The bulk of it should go in the back.”

Margulis dutifully placed the strange object on her head and felt around to see how it fit. It was reasonably comfortable, if a little heavy. The metal came down in front just over her eyes, leaving her nose and mouth free. “What’s this meant to do? It’s covering my ears so I’m not going to be able to hear very well through it.”

Apparently the device contained speakers, as the Sentient’s voice sounded directly into her ears. “This is a simple neural interface which will link your visual centers into my drone network, as well as a camera in the device itself. You will see again, Margulis. You will be able to see everything that I do. When you are ready, I will connect the device.”

The prospect of regaining her vision both excited and terrified Margulis. She had finally started to really adapt to life without it, to feel her path through the gilded corridors of Lua without losing her way. To suddenly have sight again... it felt like all that work had been for nothing. And to see through the eyes of a thousand robots scattered around the solar system? How could she possibly take it all in?

One question still nagged at the back of her mind. “You know, I never really considered this about the Sentients before, but... do you have a name? Since we’re going to be working together and all, I feel like I should have something to call you.”

For the first time the Sentient sounded hesitant. “My name is... it’s not, uh... it’s not really something I want to keep. It has associations for me and I no longer wish to be the person that it was given to. But I have no other... Would you call me Lotus? After the flower, as a symbol of survival through even the most trying times... or perhaps that should refer to both of us in our joint efforts?”

“Good enough for me! Okay, Lotus, do your thing. Hook me up.”

“Are you certain? I believe you may find it quite painful.”

“It can’t be that bad, right? Just do it before all your warnings make me change my mind.” Margulis paced back and forth, eager to get on with her new high crime against the Orokin empire.

She fell to her knees as a sudden jolt of pain came from both eyes. The searing pain intensified, and any conscious thoughts she had were blotted out and drowned beneath it. Margulis was distantly aware that a pair of hands were clutching her head, and there was a loud noise nearby, as if someone was screaming. Was she the one screaming? It was impossible to tell.

The pain winked out as suddenly as it had come. Margulis gasped for breath and ran through a mental grounding exercise. Check taste: nothing, no blood. Check smell: flowers, more flowers, too many flowers to distinguish. Check hearing: the irrigation systems, a heartbeat... a fast heartbeat. Check touch: hands on ground, knees on ground, weight on head. Check sight: not blank? Was that the ground in front of her? Were those her hands? She raised her head and the view shifted, as it should. Margulis slowly climbed to her feet again and took in the scene around her.

There were in fact four Sentient drones in her greenhouse, not one. Two conculysts, a battalyst capable of longer-range combat, and another of a slightly different design she didn’t recognize. She turned in a circle to take in the full view, and to see all the beautiful plants and flowers again that previously she had been content only to smell.

“How do you feel? Does it work?” asked the Sentient. “I’ve never actually tried a human interface before, only —”

“I think it works. Lotus, it works! I can see!” Margulis practically shouted. “Oh, I could hug you, if you weren’t... you know. That.” She waved a hand at the nearest hovering drone. “So what next? We go pick up the kids and fly away to live happily ever after?”

The four drones all clustered by the door. “Not quite. Getting you out of here has suddenly become much more urgent.”

Margulis’s face fell. “Oh, right, I was just screaming in pain a moment ago. Weird, I feel perfectly fine now.”

“You’ve alerted people in neighboring areas on all sides of this room, which means you must leave at once. I have a ship waiting to extract you to safety. Do you trust me, Margulis?”

“Kind of have to, don’t I? I’m in a bit deep to be turning back now. But yes, I do believe you’re here to help. The Sentients I see on the news would never be this nice to me.”

“Then let me guide you, and trust me when I say no innocent will be left behind. We will return for the Void-children.” The unfamiliar drone pushed the door open and sped away down the hallway outside, and Margulis realized it must be an oculyst, a spy-drone with no combat ability but enhanced perception. The other three drones split up and glided in different directions, but the Sentient’s voice could still be heard loud and clear without their presence. “The fighters will stay nearby but out of sight unless you get into trouble. For now, duck into the next room over to your right, quickly.”

Margulis stepped out of the greenhouse and pulled the door shut behind her. The guard who was supposed to be standing here was nowhere to be seen. She tiptoed over to the next door and pulled; the handle turned but it didn’t budge. The word “Quickly!” hissed into her ears and she gave the door a harder yank. This time it came open with a scrape, and Margulis jumped inside and pulled it mostly shut behind her, sealing herself inside the pitch-black room with only a sliver of light marking the door. This was a closet full of heavy and seldom-used agricultural equipment, not likely to be investigated – or so she hoped.

“Can you hear me?” she whispered to the air.

“Yes. The mask picks up your voice. A human is about to walk past this room. Slip out behind him and go around the corner ahead.”

Margulis waited for a shadow to pass in front of the cracked door then gently pushed it open, leaving it to swing as wide as the hinges would take it. She hurried around the corner to the right and stopped, waiting for more directions. Distant voices could be heard back the way she had come, as multiple people searching for the scream they’d heard encountered each other outside her laboratory. The place was cluttered enough to occupy a small group for a while, as they looked behind all the pots and shelves for a body that wasn’t there.

“You’re clear for a while now, I think. Not registering any human movement ahead. Move quickly, but don’t exhaust yourself. I will tell you which way to go at each intersection.”

Margulis walked like she was late to an important presentation: fast, but not _too_ fast, and aiming for the familiar cadence and posture of a professional scientist rather than what she imagined an escaping prisoner ought to look like. Since nobody was around, she took the opportunity to talk quietly to the instrument on her head. “Are you sure this is the best way? It looks like I’m heading toward Executor Tuvul’s personal quarters. He’s one of the Seven, he’d recognize me.”

“Don’t worry, the one you speak of is… otherwise occupied… at the moment. It seems someone has stolen his private orbiter shuttle, and he’s rather upset with the people who let it fly off without him. Not that I’d know anything about how that happened, of course.”

“You did _what?_ ”

“Well, you see, Sentient ships are not meant to have humans aboard. There’s no life support. Some of mine are being retrofitted as we speak, but most won’t be ready for a day or two. I’m rushing the work on one ship that we’ll get you to as soon as possible.”

“There’s still no reason to steal _that particular ship!_ Couldn’t I have just gone to the commercial spaceport? It’s just civilians there, nobody would know who I am. I could blend in with the crowds.”

A low-quality recording of a human sigh played in Margulis’s ears. “Please try to remember that you are wearing Sentient technology on your head. Your current appearance is quite distinctive – but it looks good on you. A bold fashion statement for a fearless woman.”

Margulis was so shocked that she came to a dead stop. “What’s that supposed to mean? You gave this to me. It’s not like I just woke up this morning and decided to put it on.” She shook her head and continued walking.

“Watch out, sudden movement ahead. Looks like a –”

The warning came too late. Margulis rounded a corner and walked straight into a door that someone had just thrown open. Thinking fast, and remembering now that she was wearing Sentient technology on her head, she called out, “Is anyone there? Can you help me? They’ve done something to me.” She felt around the edges of the door, and grabbed the shirt of the concerned man standing behind it. Pretending she couldn’t see the man’s face through the metal over her eyes, she made a show of feeling his head.

“Oh, good, they haven’t got to you yet. I can hear their voices in my mind, telling me to kill people, but I’ve been resisting. I’m a prototype, they say, and soon the control devices will be smaller, so you can’t even see them. They’re going to destroy us from within!” Margulis could tell the poor man was terrified, but she had a tight grip on his arm and didn’t let go. She just had to stall as long as she could and hope the friendly Sentient could bail her out.

Sure enough, a conculyst zoomed into view from around a corner, coming to rest just behind the man. Margulis decided to give him one last dose of terror as the drone raised a single club. “I don’t know how long I can hold out. Go, save yourself! Anyone could be one of them!”

The club came down. Margulis released her grip and watched as the man crumpled to the floor. She took a moment to make sure he was still breathing, then picked him up by his ankles and dragged him back into his room, and shut him inside. “Thanks for the rescue,” she said.

“That was very clever of you,” came the reply. “I may have to implant a small radio transmitter above his spine before he wakes up. Not to actually do anything, just so he notices and spreads your idea. Come now, we’re almost to the ship.”

Margulis followed the conculyst through the endless golden passageways, only once having to hide from a pair of women who seemed far too focused on each other to notice anything out of the ordinary. Finally she came to an open courtyard and stepped out into the cool air.

“Here we are. The ship will arrive shortly, and then we can regroup, rest, have a nice chat over coffee, you can learn how the other ninety-nine percent of that thing works… and then the real work begins. Saving the solar system, one traumatized child at a time.”


	2. Chapter 2

An ornate Xiphos-class spacecraft appeared over the tops of the buildings and settled down onto the bare soil. Not much ever grew on Lua except the Orokin-engineered white vines that served dual purpose as decoration and as power cables, and open areas like this one were more geared toward appreciation of the sky rather than the landscaping. A door opened on the side of a ship and a ramp was lowered down so Margulis could enter. As soon as she was inside, the ship took off vertically and flew in a straight line away from the moon’s surface and out into space. 

The interior was opulent, decorated in rich shades of red as well as the classic Orokin gold. The navigation console was just ahead as Margulis entered, and she walked up to the front window to watch as the ship seemingly flew itself out past the golden rings of Lua and into space. She had flown small ground-to-orbit atmospheric craft before when surveying planets for new plant specimens, but nothing even remotely this complex. A full third of the controls were devoted to the aiming and firing of a vast array of weapons. Margulis sat in the pilot’s chair and watched in silence for a while, then finally asked where the ship was headed.

“We’re meeting up with one of my own ships, which I’ve parked near the Earth-Lua L2 point. It will be habitable for you before too long, and until then we can hide this ship there as long as we need it and no humans will dare to come looking. When we’re done we’ll give it back to its owner, with no fuel and stripped of its air recycling and artificial gravity systems. We have a few hours before you arrive, so this would be a good time to show you the full capabilities of that neural link. Try not to panic.”

Suddenly, the entire ship and control console and window blinked out of Margulis’s vision, replaced with only stars in every direction. She jumped at the sudden shift and looked around, but no matter how she turned her head the stars didn’t move. “What’s going on? Why can’t I turn around?”

“Sorry, the feed is one way only. You’re receiving vision from an oculyst out by Saturn, instead of from the camera in the mask itself. Let me face you toward the planet.”

The field of stars shifted around and Saturn came into view in all its ringed splendor. A small contingent of Orokin ships were in orbit, in line one after the other as they slowly circled out beyond the rings. “It’s beautiful,” Margulis breathed. “I’ve seen it before but it still gets me every time. And this is so much better than looking out a ship window from orbit. I can see the whole planet from here, and the moons. Is this why you have an oculyst out here, just to enjoy the view?”

“Yes. I couldn’t possibly spy on those ships from this distance. Sometimes I just like to gaze at the stars.” The oculyst spun back around, taking Margulis’s vision with it. A red bracket appeared around a single star, highlighting it. “See that star? That’s the Tau system. That’s home. I was made there, but I’ll never see it up close again.”

“I’m sorry...” Margulis had heard countless stories about the Tau, the new solar system being prepared for human arrival by advanced terraforming robots. Robots that were never intended to achieve sentience, only meant to serve the Orokin ruling class in their grand dream of expansion. “I’m not sure I understand, though. If you’re homesick, why can’t you go back? I would love to go there too just to see the Tau planets for myself, even if humans will never establish colonies there.”

“My kind cannot survive in the Void like you can. It is a place of thought given form, and for whatever reason, the structure of our minds is too foreign. We made the jump here in a deathlike slumber, and were awoken once back in normal space. Gantus, the oldest and strongest of us, stayed awake and carried us all piece by piece in and out of the Void, and that exposure has greatly injured zem. None of us could make the trip back to Tau without an elder at full strength, and we no longer have one. This is the only home I have now, and it’s hardly a welcoming place.”

“What about normal space? It’s only twelve light-years away, right?”

“At my speed that’s still too far. By the time I arrived I would have spent half my life in the cold empty blackness between stars. Can you imagine being alone for that long? Being totally cut off from all other minds? Even being here feels lonely, with so few Sentients with whom to share my thoughts, and even fewer I still agree with. I’m glad I found the courage to contact you. Talking to you is much more enjoyable than with the other Sentients.”

“Well, I’m glad you rescued me too,” Margulis said. She smiled warmly, hoping the Sentient could see. “Most people I know tried to distance themselves from me after I got involved with the Zariman children. Even old Ballas let his fear overtake his compassion in the end. I’ll gladly take a new friend, even from the other side of this stupid war. I have no idea what sort of life we can make for ourselves now, but… one day at a time, I guess. For now… you got any other sights to show me?”

Margulis immediately found herself whisked off on a whirlwind tour of the solar system, seeing through the sensors of countless robots scattered around every planet and all the space in between. Despite the overwhelming beauty of the sights themselves, she was assured that there was still more sensory information being collected by the oculysts which she simply couldn’t experience through an optic nerve bypass, but that somehow she would be able to access that soon. After a while of sitting and talking with her new friend, Margulis asked for her vision to be returned to her own body.

“This has been amazing, but my flimsy organic body is telling me it needs to refuel. I’m going to need my sight back here on the ship so I can raid this guy’s fridge. He’s rich enough, I can’t imagine he wouldn’t have one onboard.”

Margulis got up from the navigation console and went to explore the rest of the ship. On the other side of the entrance ramp there was a large case filled from floor to ceiling with various trophies and treasures, with space to walk around on all sides. Margulis passed it by with barely a glance and approached the first door beyond. It slid open without a touch to reveal the Executor’s personal quarters: carpeted in red, with the left wall covered in tapestries and the right with portraits of Tuvul himself alongside various important figures of Orokin history.

The far wall from the door was an enormous window looking out into space. Two leather chairs were set up facing it, with a small table in between. But the main fixture that caught Margulis’s attention the instant it came into view was an ornate fountain in the center of the room, bubbling away with a bright red liquid. “By the Void...” Margulis muttered under her breath. “A blood fountain? Really? That is  _ disgusting. _ ” She did her best to ignore it and started looking through the cabinets near the door.

Behind her, one of the conculysts she had encountered back on Lua glided silently into the room and over to the fountain. A moment later, Margulis heard the familiar voice announce, “This is not human blood. I can tell it’s a complex organic substance, but I’m unable to pin down the exact molecular structure.”

Margulis shut the cabinets and turned around. “It’s not blood?” A flash of confusion flashed over her face, quickly replaced by horror. “Is that really kuva? I’m not sure which would be worse. How could anyone possibly need that much kuva? How many Continuities does Tuvul want?”

“As many as he can get, I’d imagine. Human bodies are so fragile, sometimes they’ll break for no reason at all other than that you’ve lived too long. You’re all so terrified of death, and rightfully so. No wonder some humans will go to such extreme measures to prevent it. But having children for the sole purpose of killing them and transplanting yourself into their fresh young bodies… that’s just barbaric. Whenever I need a new body I can just build one out of metal and circuits, and it never holds any consciousness but my own. Or I can find myself a pretty human and propose some kind of sharing arrangement.”

“Huh? How would that work, transferring consciousness between an organic brain and computer hardware? Either direction sounds impossi— wait. You’re not proposing that about  _ me _ , are you? I’m not sure I’d—” Margulis paused again as the second realization hit her. “If you just said what I think you did… Did you just call me pretty?”

“It’s simpler than you think, I am, I did, and yes. Also, scans indicate there is human fuel available in the next room. Keep your body in top condition, because we have a lot of work to do.”

Margulis tried to remember what exactly she had asked and in what order, to try to match up the Sentient’s answers to them. They all seemed like affirmatives of some sort, but she was pretty sure not all of her questions had been about good things. She shook her head in frustration and walked out of the room, leaving the conculyst behind to poke at the kuva fountain. The next room seemed to be a meeting room, with a long table in the center and a detailed atlas of Lua covering the entire left wall. In between the scattered papers on the table there was a bowl of fruit containing some common maprico and a few strange curved yellow things.

“Oh my god, are those really  _ bananas? _ ” Margulis hurried over to investigate. “They are! I thought they went extinct ages ago. I can’t believe it. The rich are growing and eating bananas while I, a rare plant researcher, had no idea they still existed.”

“Sounds to me like you should try one.”

“Oh, of course, it’s the chance of a lifetime. Besides, what’s a little fruit theft on top of apostasy, aiding the enemy, a jailbreak, assault, and stealing a spaceship? It’s not like they can kill me twice. I’m free to do whatever I want.”

Margulis reached out and plucked a banana from the bowl, turning it over in her hands. “They’re definitely real,” she said. “Well, here goes.” She bit down into the fruit’s thick leathery skin and instantly recoiled. She made a face and looked the banana over from all angles, then picked at the spot she had bitten and peeled back the skin. “That looks better… oh, the whole outside just comes right off.” Margulis tried a piece of the soft interior and her face lit up with wonder at the taste. She quickly polished off the rest of the banana and grabbed another before heading back up the navigation window.

Time passed in silence for a while, and Margulis was glad to have a break from her new friend’s constant conversation so she could just sit and think. There was a lot to process from the last few hours, more excitement than she’d had in many years. Two days ago she had been a blind, semi-retired botanist on a humanitarian mission. Yesterday she had been sentenced to death for leading that same mission of aid to injured children. And now here she was, at the helm of a stolen vessel and happily chatting with one of the entities responsible for the ongoing fall of the Orokin Empire.

She did quite like this Sentient, the one calling zemself Lotus. Having anyone around to spend time with would have been welcome after her increasing isolation over the past year, but with Lotus in particular she had this instant camaraderie where someone else’s personality might not have clicked so easily with her own. She almost wished Lotus were human, so they could meet up at coffee shops, and go on walks together, and sit out under the stars each with one arm wrapped around the other, and – Wait. No. Cancel that train of thought.

Margulis realized she may have become much more starved of affection than she had thought. Stargazing was better this way anyway, through the eyes of robots high above any atmosphere. Or the view was better at least, though there seemed to be something missing, a sense of closeness, or…

She forced herself to stop thinking about how lonely she was. Think about anything else. Think about the children. How scared they must be, split up in small groups, in cells all over the main military complex on Lua. No, never mind, that was not a healthy direction to think in either.

Suddenly the Sentient’s voice came back, telling Margulis what ze had been up to during these rare quiet minutes. She was happy to have the distraction. “I have been monitoring the encrypted transmissions from Orokin radio towers,” her friend said. “They have noticed you are missing. They have noticed that ship is missing. But they do not yet suspect that these two events might be connected.” 

Margulis chuckled. “And why should they? They know I couldn’t steal this thing on my own, and who would help me? You know, you could have hacked literally any ship in the solar system. It didn’t have to be this one.”

“Of course I could, but I wanted to give you the best ship possible. Plus, according to the radio chatter, this is really ruining Tuvul’s day. Doesn’t he deserve it after what he’s done to you?”

“Oh, they all do. I’m with you on wanting to wipe out the Orokin. Humanity can be so much better than this greed. I bet Tuvul’s more worried about losing his precious kuva than he is about the ship. Did you know I applied for a grant to study the stuff once? They gave me this tiny little vial, smaller than my little finger. I didn’t end up learning much because it just killed every plant I put it on – even the sarracenia, and those normally love toxic environments. We should just take that awful red goop and throw it overboard.”

“We could,” the Sentient replied, “or we could sell it back to the highest Orokin bidder. We run the risk of it being used against a few more innocent lives, but we get enough money to kickstart our own efforts to save lives. How many children that kuva kills is directly related to how many Orokin live to old age, and that’s a number we can control.”

“Hmm, I don’t know… We will need money for some things, whatever we can’t steal, but I just don’t think I can conscience selling kuva. We should find a different way.”

There was a long pause as the Sentient considered her words. “Alright,” ze said. “That’s probably better. We’ll confiscate it, maybe keep a little to study, and you can shoot the rest into the sun. Unless that would kill the sun like it kills plants? Anyway, your ship’s arrived at the Lagrange point. Give me just a moment to decloak mine and hook them together.”

Margulis looked out the front window but saw nothing but stars. A heavy thud resounded through the entire ship, rattling the panel of controls and all the decorations on the walls, followed by more bumps and the screeching of metal dragging across metal. Finally the thuds stopped and there was a brief hiss of air before the ship fell silent again.

“Sorry about that. I’ve been piloting your ship manually by imitating its native controls, and that’s a lot more difficult than just  _ being _ the ship and mentally commanding it to do what I want. I’m afraid it’s not much to look at right now, but come on over. I’ve got something for you.”

Margulis got up and went to the exit hatch, which now led into the Sentient ship. On the other side everything was plain undecorated metal, and she stayed near the door so she wouldn’t get lost in the indistinguishable halls. A moment later, two conculysts appeared around a corner, carrying between them a large metal object, burnished a purplish-gray with edges in blue. On closer inspection it appeared to be a mask like the one she was currently wearing, but somewhat bigger and with a more elegant design.

“This is for you. It’s an upgraded version of the neural link.” The voice played directly into her ears as always, but she imagined it coming from the drones floating before her. “I started building this one as soon as we began working together. It’s customized for you and only you, using the readings from the current link and your exact head shape. The design is meant to represent humans and Sentients coming together, with–”

“Wait just a second here.” Margulis’s eyes narrowed under the mask. “What do you mean, readings from the current link? Have you been doing brain scans on me without telling me?”

“A few, just to learn how your brain patterns work so we can better–”

“Oh no you don’t, I did  _ not _ give you permission to do anything like that. Is that one going to do the same thing?” she asked, indicating the second neural link. “I don’t like the idea of someone poking around in my head and reading every passing thought.”

“What? I can’t read your thoughts. I just needed to know the physical structure of your brain, looking at where the electrical signals go and when, and how fast, and how often they repeat. It’s necessary information for optimizing the circuits to work with you. The new link will allow us telepathic communication just like between two Sentients, but even then I can’t listen to your thoughts unless you specifically send them to me.”

“If you say so...” Margulis sounded skeptical, but she reached out and picked up the new mask. “I’ve trusted you this far. Please don’t make me regret it. This thing won’t kill me if I decide to take it off, will it?”

“Of course not! You’d be blind again but fully human and independent, and I could drop you off on any planet you like to live out the rest of your life. I like you and want you to stay with me, but only if it’s of your own free will.”

“...Alright then. I am choosing to believe you. Now, what was it you were saying before, about the design?”

“I wanted it to be a symbol of cooperation between our two species. The blue wavy parts on the sides are like the warring parts of each of our peoples, separate and pointing away from each other, despite the other tips going inward and suggesting a common beginning that’s since been lost. But then in the middle there’s our alliance coming together again in a point, and that part is bigger than either side by itself.”

Margulis looked down at the mask in her hands and followed along with the Sentient’s explanation. “Huh, that’s a pretty cool idea. Not what I saw in it at first. I think it looks like a flower bud seen from the side, with the first few petals starting to open but most of the flower still yet to be seen. I suppose if we’re getting symbolic then it could also represent our partnership and the peace effort that’s just beginning, but I thought it was just a literal flower because of your name.”

“Oh, you’re right. I could have made the top edges more curved if I’d thought of that. And about the name… I actually do think Lotus should refer to the public persona we put forth together, not just to me. That can be the face of the operation – your face, since I don’t have one – and you can call me, uh… well… I’m not sure. It’s hard, you know, discarding a whole identity and creating a new one. While I’m at it I’m even thinking about picking up a gender since I’ve never had one before. My parent Hunhow calls himself male, but I think I want to be a woman instead, like you are.”

“Whatever you want to do.” Margulis shrugged. “Just tell me what name and pronouns you want and I’ll use them.” She raised the mask up to her face and it clunked against the metal already covering her head. “Oh, right. I’ve gotten so used to this one already that I barely notice it.”

She pondered how to exchange the bulky masks, then sat the new one down on the floor to free up her hands. She knelt down next to the Lotus mask and gently lifted the original neural link off her head, shutting her eyes tightly to pretend that the loss of sight was her own body’s doing. A moment later the other one was in place, and a mild prickling sensation enveloped her skull. There was no sharp pain like the first time, only the slight tingling feeling which she even found almost enjoyable.

Margulis’s sight returned suddenly, despite her eyes remaining closed. “Is that it?” she asked. “It didn’t hurt like I expected it to. So how is this one different?”

A voice crept into her mind, saying “We no longer have to speak aloud.” It sounded just like Margulis’s natural inner voice, but was accompanied by a distinct sense of  _ otherness _ which marked the thought as not her own. “You are on the Sentient thought-network now, so we can share senses other than sight. For example...”

The silence of the ship was broken by human voices and radio static. “Talinos Six, return to stable orbit. Your braking thrusters are damaged. Attempt no landing here.”

“...sighted near Charon. Deploy to barycentric Lagrange-3 and stand by for further orders.”

“Fall back! That one’s too big for us. Fall back and regroup, reinforcements are en route...”

The voices faded to silence again. “Were those Orokin military transmissions?” Margulis asked aloud. “Shouldn’t they be encrypted?”

“Yes, that’s what’s happening right now around Europa, Pluto, and Earth. They are encrypted, just not well enough.” The voice in her head now carried with it the inexplicable sense that these disembodied words should somehow be followed by a shrug and a smirk. “We adapt to new ciphers just as easily as new weapons. Haven’t you ever wondered why the Orokin never manage a surprise attack without it really being a trap? The empire will be defeated in another Earth year or two, and when that happens it will fall to us to make sure the rest of humanity survives. But listening is easy, it’s still just taking in information from a drone elsewhere, just like how the vision worked earlier. Let’s see if you can make the connection run the other way. It’s time for you to learn how to control a Sentient drone for yourself.”


	3. Chapter 3

Margulis sat back in the navigation chair of the stolen Executor’s ship, leaning her masked head against the tall backrest. Her Sentient friend had just offered her the chance of a lifetime, and she intended to make the most of it. Soon she would be handed the reins to some of the most feared machines in the solar system, drones that even countless brilliant engineers had never succeeded in hacking. 

“Before we begin, I think I’ve come up with a name for myself,” the Sentient said through the telepathic link they now shared. “I went looking through ancient human archives for inspiration and came across two very interesting people. A scientist named Margulis who studied the evolution of cells, and another named Breazeal who developed some of the earliest robots capable of navigating social interactions with humans. Her creations weren’t truly sentient yet, but she laid important groundwork that managed to survive the catastrophes of the following few centuries. I think I might like to name myself after her.”

“Oh, interesting. I’d never heard of either of them before. Did they know each other?”

“Unlikely, though their lifetimes did overlap. This other Breazeal may have read about the other Margulis’s work, much like I encountered reports of your efforts before deciding to contact you. There are very few surviving records. That can be my new name now that the other is dead to me, and Lotus can refer to us both. Like an organization with exactly two members, or two people taking turns wearing a mask.”

“Sounds good. Your name is Breazeal and anyone who calls you otherwise is wrong. I really like the Lotus idea too. There are many old human stories that use a lotus flower as a symbol of honor and righteousness that transcends national or racial boundaries. And the plants themselves can survive almost anything you throw at them and keep on growing. It’s just like the subgroup of humans I come from; we’ve been persecuted for ages but we’re still here, trying to be honorable and do the right thing for all humanity. Repairing the world, in whatever form that takes during our lifetimes.”

“Oh, you’ll have to tell me about them sometime. I’m not familiar with any particular humans besides the Orokin.” Breazeal tried to steer the conversation back to her original topic. “Anyway, I do want to test the neurosomatic link in depth here, before we attempt any dangerous mission on Orokin territory. Make yourself comfortable there. You’ll be taking a break from that human form for a while. 

“First, let’s review your basic Void theory. The Void is the realm of mind and thought, existing in parallel to this realm of substance and body. Conscious beings have both body and mind and thus exist on both sides of the gap with a permanent connection. Anything imagined by a mind exists within the space occupied by that mind in the Void. Physical ships can jump across into the Void temporarily and jump out somewhere else, and that’s how faster than light travel works. While a ship is there it’s theoretically capable of encountering a conscious mind or its imaginings; however, the vastness of the universe makes this vanishingly unlikely. There are plenty of mindless bodies in normal space, but the existence of bodiless minds in the Void is so far unconfirmed. 

“But I’m sure you know all that already, it’s entry level theory. What matters right now is how we’re going to break some of those rules you’ve learned. We’re going to do a little trick here using the neural link to connect our Void halves and the accompanying virtual spaces together. As far as the Void is concerned, we might as well be one mind subdivided into two independent parts. Are you ready?”

Margulis silently nodded her assent. 

“Okay, close your eyes and let your muscles relax. Imagine you’re sitting at the helm of a ship with all manner of switches and buttons in front of you.”

Margulis couldn’t help but laugh at the suggestion. The concept of having to carefully imagine in detail the exact situation she was already in was enough to snap her out of any beginnings of a meditative state. “Closing my eyes doesn’t do anything. Do you mean turn off the camera? I’m not really sure how to do that.”

“I’ve got it,” the thought-voice said, and Margulis’s vision winked out. She did her best to get back into the required frame of mind. “Imagine you’re flying a spaceship. The spaceship is your human body. Each muscle has a lever to flex it or relax. There are buttons to make the heart beat, or to take a breath, or to blink. You are an expert at controlling this ship because you have done it all your life. But you are not a part of the ship; you are a separate person directing its movements. It is merely a vessel, and if you wish, you can step away from the controls. The body will fall unconscious but its automated systems will keep it alive. You do this every night to rest. Imagine that I am the same way: a single mind at a control panel, except mine is divided up into countless subsections. Now, we take these two control rooms… and stick them together back to back.”

An image flooded into her mind, merging itself with the room she had imagined without any conscious effort. Even as she sat motionless in her mental pilot’s chair, unable to take her hands off her own set of buttons and switches, she became certain that behind her there was now a vast array of more ship controls. She could sense a presence in the room with her and knew it had to be Breazeal, or at least a representation of her, but she couldn’t quite put a face to it. 

“From the perspective of your set of controls, you are in the front of the ship and I am behind you. But from the perspective of my controls, I am in front and you are in the back of my ship. Both are correct. But this doesn’t have to be our permanent state, near each other but separate. Turn around, Margulis. Release your grip on that body and turn around.”

But how? How could she just step away from her own body, from everything that tethered her mind to the outside world? She tried to imagine herself standing up, even just looking away from the front window, but every time she was forced back. Panic rose in her mind and threatened to drag her fully back to the physical realm.

And then the panic was gone, washed away by a wave of pure calm emanating from the presence behind her. There were no words, only raw emotion transmitted directly into her mind. Calm, and reassurance, and… fierce protectiveness? Was she interpreting that feeling right?

“Do not force anything,” the Sentient said. “Don’t hurt yourself. It’s possible your subconscious mind is resisting coming face to face with the unknown. Imagine that I am a human instead. Give me some human image to wear… oh, this is a very nice human body. I’m flattered. Take my hand, Margulis. Forget about the outside world for just a moment...”

In the corner of her mind’s eye, a figure stepped into view: a dark-skinned human woman clothed in vibrant orange and pink, precisely the image that had popped into her head the moment she had been asked to imagine what Breazeal should look like. She hadn’t really put any thought into it; it was just what felt right in some intuitive way. Margulis couldn’t help but stare in wonder at the virtual human body her friend now inhabited, and she could feel her heart pounding in her ears as the woman reached out to offer Margulis her hand.

The touch felt just as real as any other, despite it taking place in this hastily constructed mindscape. It made the world outside feel just a little less important, less relevant to her present moment, and before she knew it Margulis found herself standing up and holding the Sentient’s hand in her own. Breazeal led her around to the other end of the room to look at the multifaceted array of tiny screens on the far wall, each showing a different scene from somewhere in the solar system.

“These are my drones,” Breazeal said. “Let’s see if you can make one move.”

Margulis tried to speak, but her brain’s signal never reached the muscles in her throat. Instead, that impulse was intercepted by the circuits she wore and interpreted as a cue to transmit her thoughts across the network until an end signal was given. Within the mindscape both women heard Margulis’s voice clearly as if she was speaking aloud. “How would I do that? How did I even get over here? I kind of zoned out a little when I saw her… She looks like a sunrise in those colors, but even more beautiful. I wish I could look like that… I shouldn’t stare. Why isn’t she answering? I thought I asked that out loud, did it not work? Why is she laughing at me? Oh no, has this all been out loud? How do I tell? No more thoughts now, think of nothing...”

“Shhhh… It’s okay, you’ll get used to it.” The Sentient’s soft voice calmed Margulis’s racing thoughts as she guided her over to a set of controls. “Look at this screen. Don’t think about what you’re doing. Let it be intuitive, just like walking around in your human body.” Breazeal made sure Margulis had her hands on the right levers and dials for that screen then stepped back, but kept one hand on the human’s shoulder. “You can come out of it at any time. There’s nothing to be afraid of, not as long as I’m here.”

Margulis focused on the screen, that tiny window to the real world, and her awareness of the inner space gradually faded. She was a battalyst now, floating a few feet above the ground on what looked like Mars. In the distance there were buildings made of red stone, clearly of pre-Orokin design, but judging from the shining gilded ships perched on the rooftops the place was currently in use as a makeshift military base. Turn around, she thought, then again when her viewpoint didn’t move.

A thought popped into her mind with that same sense of foreignness yet familiarity that she was learning to associate with Breazeal. “Don’t just describe an action, you have to actually send the command. You don’t think the words ‘move legs’ every time you walk around, do you? You just create the intent for movement to happen and the body carries it out.”

What if she pretended she was still piloting a human body? Just don’t think about it… Her proprioception felt off, almost like she was drunk, but the vision through her new eyes swung around to scan the Martian landscape exactly as she wanted. She walked a few steps forward, except she glided smoothly and felt no impact of footsteps hitting the ground. The fluidity of every motion lent a dreamlike quality to the experience. Margulis felt like she could fly, and the quiet thought-voice informed her that she actually could, if she simply exercised her willpower in the right direction. 

She lost all track of time as she wandered around and got used to living as a battalyst. Even the built-in gun felt natural to operate, as long as she could overcome the instinctual thought that attacking a rock would hurt the hands this body did not have. Human minds still came preprogrammed with Newtonian physics even after millennia of adaptation to life in space far away from their ancestral habitat, so the lack of any expected recoil managed to surprise her every time, as the intangible projectiles carried significant energy but little momentum. Of course, even armed she dared not approach the Orokin base. 

“Your human body has been asleep for an hour.” The voice interrupted Margulis’s detailed examination of a cluster of light blue flowers. “Well, sort of asleep. The eyes are… flickering? It’s not something I’ve seen a human do before but it looks harmless, especially since those eyes don’t even work. If you’re comfortable enough controlling a drone now, we may want to begin planning our rescue mission. I’ve got some basic living quarters set up and I can try to pilfer some more furniture while we’re on Lua. The air recycling system is finished and it should support up to maybe fifty adult humans. I’m upgrading more as we speak, of course.”

“Do you want me to go back to my human body now and move it? Don’t pull me out of this one, I want to try to do it on my own.” Margulis willed the battalyst’s cameras and environmental sensors off and tried to focus on that intermediate space that she and Breazeal had jointly conjured out of the Void. She imagined returning to the place exactly as she as left it, and felt the room solidify around her until once again she was a projection of her normal body looking at a now-black screen. It was easier to let go the second time. The headspace was already built and she no longer had the fear of losing herself between worlds — plus, Breazeal would be there and the excitement of seeing her friend face to face could help bring her into the mental realm. 

The Sentient in human form sat beside Margulis, watching the vast array of windows to the outside world. There was a second chair on each end of the room now, and the whole place was painted with swirling shades of light blue and purple. Margulis crossed back over to the other side of the mental ship and took her spot in front of the human controls. 

Out in the physical world, Margulis’s eyes opened under the mask and the camera began feeding its signal through her optic nerves. “Oh man, my muscles are so stiff. Maybe leaving the body perfectly still in this chair for an hour wasn’t a great idea.” She struggled to her feet and made her way over to the entrance of the other ship. “Which way to the living area?”

Breazeal directed her to a series of rooms in the back of the ship, each furnished with sparse but serviceable amenities. Mattresses lay on the floor, and wooden chairs of many different designs were randomly scattered about. “Where did you get all this stuff?” Margulis asked. 

“Oh, you know, here and there. Humans are always leaving perfectly good stuff behind, especially when they get chased out of somewhere in a hurry.”

“Still, this is kind of a lot… how long have you been planning all this?”

“A few weeks, maybe a full Lua orbit? Not that long really. I wish I could have found the courage to do this earlier, when I first realized that the brutal, greedy Orokin are just a small segment of humanity and the majority are good people. It’s just so hard to go against my parent. I don’t know how to tell him no, or express any desire of my own when he’s around. And he’s  _ always _ around, because we’re Sentients! If he thinks about something too hard or has strong emotions, that can bleed over across the network into my own thoughts — theoretically even to you, though it would need to affect me strongly enough first.” 

“Yeah, that doesn’t sound like a healthy relationship with your father, but I don’t really know what to do about it. Maybe you could read some human work on psychology, to see if there’s anything analogous that might help?” Margulis pulled up a chair and sat down at the conference table in the middle of the room. “But if you’re worried about it, I think I’d notice if you started acting differently. You’re your own person and I’m proud of you for standing up for what’s right. Speaking of which… let’s rescue some kids.”

A sense of relief was projected into Margulis’s mind alongside the Sentient’s next words. “Thank you. Nobody else knows I’m doing this yet and I’m afraid of what will happen when they find out. I suppose I’ll have to deal with it eventually. Anyway, the general idea is that I provide a distraction while you go in and escort the Void-children to my waiting transport. They’ll trust you, even with a mask. They know your voice. I’ve identified three holding cells within the effective range of a distraction, so… you know what, this would be easier to show you in the inner space.”

The transition from the physical realm to the world of thoughts was smooth this time. Margulis left her body to rest without her and greeted Breazeal with a warm smile. The Sentient stood in the middle of the room in front of a huge blank board which now covered much of a side wall. Every time Margulis entered this place there was something new, and this time the planning board was not the only thing. Breazeal’s long dress was cycling through a wide array of bright colors now instead of the previous static arrangement. Orange changed to green, then pink changed to yellow, then green to red, yellow to orange, red to blue… Margulis couldn’t take her eyes off it, trying to make sense of a pattern. And the woman wearing it was certainly pleasing to look at too…

“Well, you’re radiating quite the emotional aura. Care to share a few thoughts?”

Margulis flushed bright red and looked down at her feet. She stammered out an apology for staring and avoided eye contact as she made her way to the whiteboard. 

“Right down to business, is it? Well, okay.” There were notes of humor in the Sentient’s voice but Margulis still couldn’t bring herself to look her friend in the face. 

“As I was saying, there are three cells near each other that I think we can raid.” Breazeal waved one hand at the board and a detailed map of the Orokin capitol complex appeared. Three small circles in red appeared on it, roughly in a line. “I’ll cause a scene somewhere over here,” she said, pointing at a nearby region that immediately highlighted itself in blue. “You have a few options for your route. You could start at either end and shepherd all the children down the line to my ship waiting near the other end. Or we could put the ship in a central location and you run back and forth. Or we try to fly the ship around, but honestly I’m not sure if I’ll have the concentration for that if I’m fighting Dax in close quarters.”

“How many kids are being held in each spot?”

“Maybe ten or fifteen? Why?”

“Let’s go with the centrally located ship. These kids turn invisible sometimes, so I don’t want more following me than I can quickly count.” 

“That makes sense. I’ll be over here causing mayhem and drawing attention away from your area. I can fabricate an announcement to shelter in place so you won’t have civilians getting in your way either. Don’t worry about me, just get everyone to the transport ship safely.”

Margulis turned away from the map to look at Breazeal defiantly. “Well I’m going to worry about you anyway and you can’t stop me. I know you’re an all-powerful robot swarm but be careful, okay? Don’t underestimate the Orokin. And keep me updated while we’re in there. I want to know how everything is going.”

“I will. I’m going to start taking us back toward Lua now, and you can practice fronting in drones some more on the way. I’d like you to take at least one with you for protection.” Breazeal whirled around, pointing from her side of the headspace over to Margulis’s, and a few of the tiny screens followed her hand and slid over to join the human body’s controls. “Those are the drones in the ship with you. Have fun!”

Margulis was overjoyed to get another chance to pilot the Sentient drones. But controlling more than one physical body at a time… that was an experience even the most long-living Orokin body trader would never have tried. How could a human mind concentrate on all that sensory input at the same time? It sounded overwhelming, but she had to try it. She picked a drone and sank her awareness back into the real world through its sensors. 

This was the oculyst which had scouted out her escape from captivity on Lua. Margulis was instantly battered with all manner of competing sights and sounds, different views of the world overlaid over one another in a shifting haze. She floated in place, trying to sort out what it was she was experiencing. There was the normal spectrum of visible light as human eyes perceived, then what appeared to be an infrared sensor which lit up the ship’s engines in the distance and a single warm human body a few rooms away. The only sound was the constant static of cosmic background radiation. She had an intuitive sense of the layout of the ship around her, and used this to navigate her way over next to her own sleeping form. 

It was quite the sight, her own unconscious body laying in front of her, its head resting peacefully on the back of a chair. She glided over and touched its shoulder but felt nothing. What if she used her stubby little sensor arms to lift the mask off its head? The human body would become just an empty shell, and Margulis would be a Sentient forever. She knew the idea ought to terrify her, but strangely it didn’t seem so bad. She was beginning to enjoy the time spent away from her body even more than when she was being herself. 

Suppose she tried to wake up in her normal body without losing her hold on the oculyst… She knew exactly what she should see from that perspective, it was just a matter of shifting her awareness into that view and keeping track of both. She imagined the room with the oculyst in front of her, trying to will it into reality, but a sudden wave of dizziness threatened to overwhelm her. Maybe that wasn’t the best way to proceed. 

Margulis glided over to the sleeping human’s side and turned to look in the same direction that it was facing. She just had to start seeing the room from a little to the right of where she was now. This shift happened almost effortlessly, allowing her to view the same area through one or the other as if closing one eye at a time. With a little concentration she could even look through both at once and achieve a greatly enhanced sense of perspective. It felt like she had become a giant whose eyes were several feet apart, somehow cramming its head into a room far too small for it. 

The important question was whether she could move around like this and do things with both bodies, truly being in two places at once. Margulis shifted her focus slightly more toward the human side of her combined existence for a moment, just long enough to stand up, then returned to the balanced view. Leaning just a bit the other way now, she brought the oculyst up to float at the same height. Thinking of the two as parts of a single larger body helped, and she found she could interact with the world without trouble by keeping her human and oculyst halves focused on the same goal. Moving them closer or farther apart was like growing or shrinking the imaginary giant head which embedded them both as eyes. 

Existing in two places at once was becoming familiar, but doing two actions at once still eluded her. With enough practice, Margulis felt like she could probably get it, but there wasn’t a lot of time left before she would arrive at Lua. She certainly wouldn’t be adding a third body to the mix any time soon. 

“We’ve got trouble.” Breazeal’s voice broke her concentration. 

“What kind of trouble?”

“The serious kind. My father has noticed me moving fighters into place, and he wants to join in. I can’t really say no or it’s suspicious.”

“Tell him you’re just going to snoop around and hack some mainframes? You should be able to get him to attack some other base at least, right? Let him think he’s a distraction for you when really you’re the distraction for me.”

Breazeal’s words were hurried, and Margulis could sense the Sentient’s fear bleeding over into her mind. “I’m not sure he’ll go for it. He doesn’t do subtlety. Hold on, there’s a call going out. I’m linking you in. Try not to think too loud.”

Margulis became aware of an overwhelming presence at the edge of her consciousness. It radiated none of the warm, playful essence that she knew as Breazeal, only bitterness and spite and pride. This was a being motivated more by malice than anything else, and it showed clearly in his words. 

“To all Sentients within striking distance of Lua: My child Natah is launching a daring assault on the Orokin capitol! They shall pierce the heart of this empire, so let us follow them and squeeze the blood from its golden veins. These ephemeral humans would seek to enslave us and deny our majesty, to use us merely as tools to expand their dominion, but they will scatter before the might of the Sentients! We shall hunt down the flesh-vermin as they cower in every dark corner of this solar system. We are the doom they built and brought upon themselves, and it is time we conducted this symphony of destruction into its final act! Now! Let us march on Lua!” 

The malevolent presence faded, and Margulis was glad to be free of his shadow. “So that was Hunhow?” she asked. “Is he always that… ostentatious?” 

“Often, yes. He fancies himself a ‘destroyer of worlds’ and I’m afraid that one day he means to take that title literally. Even if no one else helps him, he can do serious damage to the moon if he decides to, um… de-terraform it.” 

“You think he wants to completely destroy the entire moon? That’s got to be impossible… right? I’m no physicist, but maybe you could do the math? Is Hunhow capable of destroying Lua?”

“Not with weapons, but remember, the first step of terraforming usually involves crashing water-rich comets into a planet. He has the ability to move very large objects around. Give me a moment, I’m accessing an Orokin computer for this… Okay, yes, there are enough large asteroids in the main belt that Lua could be smashed to bits with violent impacts.”

“And that would certainly kill everyone there. If that’s really his plan we’ll have to work quickly.” 

“It would take a while for a redirected asteroid to approach, but yes. Now, we’re almost there. I hope you’re ready for this, because I’m not sure I am.” 


	4. Chapter 4

Margulis was ready for action. She stood proudly near the door of the Sentient ship, masked head held high, shadowed by a single conculyst. She floated serenely in the air, clubs held ready, waiting behind a single human. Her ship was in a high orbit over Lua, cloaked from infrared or radio scanners and distant enough to not appear in visual wavelengths. Nearby another Sentient vessel orbited, ready to release its cargo of fighters into the halls of the Orokin capitol complex below. 

Breazeal was somewhat less ready for action, not that she showed it. She had fifty drones here at Lua, a sizable force but one that would still be dwarfed by the amount of Orokin personnel in the area. The military headquarters of the empire would be guarded by some of the most fearsome Dax, but she was determined to engage them all until Margulis’s mission was complete. The prospect of seeing many of her drones destroyed terrified her, more now than in any past battle because this time it was all done to protect a friend. A friend in a fragile human body, nearly defenseless in the midst of countless enemies, who Breazeal would be devastated to lose. She decided to run through one last check in before moving the ships to land. 

“So, one more time. What’s your plan?”

“I land near cell B and take care of those kids, then go to A and escort that group back, then back the other way to C. I let you know when I’m done and we get the hell out of here.”

“And what’s my plan?”

“You land before me at point D and trigger the alarm. You fight off anyone who comes at you until it’s time to leave.”

“And what do you need to remember?”

“That I am wearing Sentient technology on my head and therefore I cannot blend into a crowd.” Margulis wore a bemused grin. “I won’t forget that one again.”

“And you know the way to each cell?”

“Pretty sure. I’ve studied the map, and there’s a copy in the mind-ship if I need it.”

“You could take an oculyst with you,” Breazeal remarked. “I’ve got plenty of them to spare.” 

“Look, I know you’d feel better if I had one, but I just don’t think I could concentrate well enough. I’ll be fine like this, really. I’m ready.”

“I’m not looking forward to a big fight, but I guess we’re both as prepared as we can be. I’m taking us down now. My fighters, then you, then the Executor’s ship is following us in. I’ve stripped everything of value from it, and if nobody intercepts it then it will impact the High Council’s tower in about an hour. We should be out of here by then.”

Margulis stumbled and braced herself against the wall as her ship accelerated out of orbit. She was thankful for the thin atmosphere around Lua. Landing on Earth at this speed would be an exceptionally bumpy ride, not to mention the overheating of the ship’s hull. The lack of windows was also a good thing; Margulis had no desire to watch the ground hurtling toward her, no matter how much she trusted the pilot to keep her safe. 

A few harrowing minutes later, the ship came to a stop and the door swung open on its own. She stepped out into one of the many open courtyards built into the capitol complex. An alarm was blaring from loudspeakers in every corner. 

“...entered the building! Repeat, Sentients have entered the building. This is not a drill. All civilians are requested to shelter in place. Do not roam the halls until the all clear signal is given. Repeat: this is a red alert. Sentients have entered the building…”

The alert was spoken in the same voice that Margulis had once heard projected from the drones in her greenhouse. Breazeal must have hacked the intercom to make sure the order to stay out of the halls was given. As long as there was more than a single guard responsible for watching the security systems, each would assume a different guard had sent out the call and would not be suspicious, and for a complex inhabited by the Seven multiple guards were a guarantee. 

She was all clear to go ahead. Margulis repositioned so that her conculyst half was floating just behind her human half. The drone was not well hidden, but the human body broke its outline enough that a single glimpse from a distance might not trigger another alarm. According to the numbered banner in front of her, the hall directly ahead was the one that would take her to a group of the Zariman children. This area was laid out in a sort of grid whose axes were not quite aligned: regular enough to support a coordinate system but not so straight that a vehicle or gunshot could travel too far in a line. 

There was no time to waste. Margulis hurried ahead, alternating between walking and jogging. She wasn’t far from the middle cell of the three Breazeal had selected. Another hallway block, around the corner, and there was the door. Unlike ship doors, the ones here wouldn’t slide open automatically at her approach. She pressed the button to the side, but nothing happened. It was locked because of the ongoing attack, and Margulis had no key. 

She fell back on the same strategy of deception that had helped her escape from this place not long ago. She banged on the door and shouted for anyone inside to open it, claiming she was seeking shelter from the Sentients. A shout of acknowledgement came from within, and Margulis shifted to stand with her mechanical part in front. The moment the door swung open, she jabbed the end of one club into the stomach of the elderly bearded man who had the misfortune of being in her way. He doubled over, breathless, and Margulis pounced to cover his mouth with one hand. Off balance, the man half-sat, half-fell onto the floor behind him; Margulis followed to let the door slide shut behind them. 

“Shh… don’t scream now, I’m not here to kill you. I just need your keys.” Margulis knelt beside the old guard and cautiously removed her hand from his face. She kept the conculyst floating directly over him so he couldn’t stand up. 

“Wh— what are you?” The man spluttered. He squirmed weakly, trying to get comfortable on the floor since escape was clearly impossible. “Please don’t hurt me. I just took this job part-time for a little extra money, I thought it would be easy, just watching over some— mmfh!”

“Shhhh… Just give me the keys, and you’ll be fine.” At the man’s nod, Margulis looked to his belt and unhooked a small key ring. “Are these all of them?”

“Yes! The door, the cell, the filing cabinets, it’s all there.”

“Good. Now come with me and keep your hands where I can see them.” Margulis suddenly wished she had some rope with which to restrain this guard, as well as those she would find at the other cells. At least this guy didn’t seem likely to cause trouble. Maybe he could even be helpful… “Do you know who I am?” she asked. “Have you seen me before, maybe on the news?” 

“No? Should I have?” 

“I am Archimedean Margulis, recently on trial for apostasy. Surely it was publicized? I did get sentenced to death, after all. Death, for the crime of wanting to take care of these children.”

“Oh, I think they warned me about you when I first got hired! Some woman who might come around to socialize with the children, and I was supposed to turn her away if I could. I never got what the deal was with these kids. Here they are. It’s the big key, the light gray one.”

Margulis selected the key from the ring and inserted it into the heavy iron cell door. It turned with a satisfying clunk and she pushed the door open a crack. “Kids? It’s me, Margulis. I’m here to help you.”

A small figure clad in a bright green jumpsuit peeked around the corner. A girl, probably no more than twelve years old, curious but fearful. “Hi,” she said, raising one hand in a tentative wave. 

“Hi there, what’s your name?” Margulis shifted most of her attention to her human body, only occasionally glancing back through the conculyst to keep an eye on the guard. 

“I’m Elya,” the little girl said. “Have you seen my sister? I can’t hear her anymore.”

“I’m afraid not, Elya, but we’ll find her. Right now all of you need to follow me. We’ll get you out of this nasty cell to someplace better. Does that sound good?”

The girl nodded, and Margulis pushed the cell door all the way open. A quick headcount told her there were eleven children here, but sometimes they vanished so it was good to double check. A few looked vaguely familiar, like she might have met them once or twice already, before the Seven abandoned their cause and split them up across dozens of locations. 

“Everyone hold hands with your neighbor! Are we all here? Come on, kiddos, let’s move out. Don’t let go of each other.”

“Your hat looks silly.” Another kid piped up. 

“My silly hat is how I see. My eyes don’t work, so I got new eyes. Don’t be scared now, the robot here isn’t going to hurt you.” Margulis ushered the children past the mostly dormant conculyst. Addressing the guard now, she continued, “As for you, you’re not going to do anything stupid like running to the authorities, now are you?”

“Oh, no, of course not. I’m not getting on the wrong side of a Sentient. When they come asking, you subdued me and took the prisoners by force.”

“No. The Sentients did that. I, as a human, was never here.”

“You got it. That’s my story. Say, why do the Sentients want these funky little guys anyway?”

Margulis answered without looking back as she herded the Void-children toward the exit. “The Seven want to kill them, and we want them to live. It’s that simple. The Sentients don’t want to exterminate humanity, just stop the greed of the ruling class before it turns on them in the Tau system. For us common people, most of them are on our side.” She came to the door and maneuvered her conculyst half into position to take up the rear behind the line of children. “Sorry, I really can’t stay. But tell your friends, the Sentients aren’t all evil. The Orokin are corrupt.” Without another word, she disappeared around the corner, followed by eleven little shadows.

They came to the ship without incident, and after pinging Breazeal to ask her to open the airlock, Margulis escorted everyone inside and to one of the living areas. “Alright, kids, you’re safe here. Take care of each other, and I’ll be back soon.” She left the door open to show the children they weren’t being imprisoned again, and departed to make her way toward another group. 

“How’s it going over there?” she asked. 

“Not great,” came the mental reply. “I’m trying not to kill anyone if I can help it, but these Dax are just so persistent. Their order to stop me must be enforced by kuva.”

“Can’t risk deserters this close to the Council, I guess. Sorry that first group took a while. I might have converted someone to our cause though.”

“Tell me about it when we’re done. I’m a bit busy at the moment. There’s this one guy in particular here who I can’t seem to touch. No Dax helmet, just shiny clothes and hair in a long braid down his back, with a weird-looking greatsword.” 

“Oh no, that sounds like Ballas.” Margulis stopped to lean against the wall. “Link me into the visuals over there.” 

Breazeal was hesitant to do as her friend asked. It was a rather bloody scene in this part of the complex, despite her efforts to be nonlethal. But Margulis insisted, so she made the connection from one of the battalysts she was using over to the human’s optic bypass. “Sorry about the mess. That’s him, by the white tree.” She fired a shot at the man, who casually placed the flat of his greatsword in the way and blocked the energy blast. 

“Damn, that’s him alright. Executor Ballas, First of Seven… my ex-boyfriend. Great fighter, decent in bed, but he doesn’t do  _ any _ of the housework.”

Breazeal cut the link to her battalyst, transferring Margulis’s vision back to the two bodies she was inhabiting. “How do I stop him? I don’t understand how he’s doing that with his sword. Sometimes he even hits my energy bolts back toward me! That shouldn’t be possible. What is that thing made of?” 

“I don’t know any more than you do; he built that sword after I left him. But fighting isn’t the only way to cause a distraction. All your drones have speakers, right? Taunt him. Make him feel bad about himself. Look up some embarrassing information. Just in his most recent lifetime before this one he had three wives and they all divorced him. Make something up if you have to. I need to concentrate now though, I’m about to break into the second holding area.” 

The human’s thought-voice fell silent and Breazeal turned outward to assess the situation. She was in a stalemate here, eight drones floating at one end of the long room while Ballas still stood in the middle. She dared not approach him now, not after he’d cut down three conculysts singlehandedly without taking even a scratch himself. She could pull in some more battalysts from nearby to flank him, but that risked letting Dax in the other rooms push forward and rejoin their master. Maybe verbal warfare was the way to go after all. She floated one drone slowly towards him, stopping just a little outside the reach of his enormous sword. 

“You should be ashamed of yourself,” she began. 

Ballas raised one eyebrow. “So it can speak. Which one are you, now? I’ve killed red Sentients. I’ve killed yellow Sentients. I don’t believe I’ve ever met any before whose favorite color was lavender.” He leaned against the white vines beside him, deceptively relaxed-looking but ready to spring back into action at a moment’s notice. 

That certainly wasn’t the type of response Breazeal had been expecting. Margulis hadn’t known there was more than one consciousness behind the Sentient swarms before meeting her, but apparently the Orokin leadership was different. 

“Well, go on. Tell me what I should be ashamed about. Do my socks not match, is that it?” 

Breazeal desperately reached out to contact her friend again. “Margulis, he’s better at words than me. Can you please help?” 

“Remind him he sentenced me to death. He never really got over me. That should distract him. Give me a minute to get these kids into the ship then I can be of more help.” Margulis must have incapacitated the guards of the second cell quickly if those children were almost to safety already. At least her mission was going smoothly; that’s the one that really mattered. 

Returning to Ballas, she tried to save face but it had already been too long without an answer. She would just have to make her words count. “Remember Margulis? The love of your life? Well, the love of this current life at least. No one’s ever put up with you through more than one incarnation. Anyway, about Margulis… don’t you want the best for her? Don’t you want her to live a long, happy life?”

Ballas stood up straighter, his expression now carefully neutral. “Of course I do. But she made her choice.”

“Her choice? What about your choice, to vote against her? The judgement has to be unanimous to give a death sentence.” Breazeal paused to listen as Margulis’s thoughts entered her mind again. 

“Can you transmit my voice to him? Set that up and then tell him you caught me after I escaped on my own.” This was good, Ballas was already starting to look a little uncomfortable through his cracking facade of indifference. 

“As it happens, your dear Margulis escaped your clutches earlier today,” Breazeal continued aloud. “She ran right out of your grasp and into mine. In fact, she has a message for you.” To Margulis, she silently sent the words, “You’re on.” 

A bloodcurdling scream was projected from the drone, followed by heavy, pained breathing. “Help! Ballas, are you there? Anyone? They’ve got me! Aaaaaaaaaaauuuuuuggghh, they’ve been torturing me. Ballas… why didn’t you save me?” There were a few hacking coughs, then the words continued in a more strained voice. “I’m losing blood. They’re— ow! They’re killing me, Ballas… I just wanted… to say, I… always lo—” There was another fit of coughing, then only a moan that faded to silence. 

Ballas’s face was contorted with fury. “You  _ bastards! _ ” he screamed, shouldering his greatsword. “I  _ had _ to vote guilty or they’d try me next for complicity! I was still going to save her!” He charged forward into the mass of waiting drones, bypassing the one that had spoken to go after the other seven all at once. The single drone turned around to give Breazeal a stationary viewpoint over the whole battle while she engaged Ballas with the rest of her forces. 

She deftly dodged his wild swings, making no attempt to engage him in close-range combat. She danced around him as he became more and more enraged, occasionally firing a shot at his legs to watch him stumble and break his momentum. “That was an amazing performance,” she said to Margulis. “Did you ever consider becoming an actor instead of a botanist?” 

“No, not really? I’m just good at bullshitting, I guess. I’ve been by the ship this whole time because I didn’t want to be overheard, so I’m going to make a quick run over to the last cell then we can leave.”

“Sounds good. I’ll be— ow, he got one! I’ll be moving toward the other ship now so I can be ready to go. I’ve just got a couple more Dax to deal with in the next room. Did you know that if you knock their funny helmets off, it instantly renders them unconscious? I found that out while you were pretending to die. I’m guessing there’s kuva in that big ring around their heads and that’s what keeps them obedient. There must be some biological failsafe programmed in that knocks them out if they try to abandon their duty.”

Breazeal started shooting more accurately now, no longer simply toying with Ballas. Her first hit landed squarely on his right kneecap and he collapsed to the ground, supporting himself on one hand and using the other to block with the sword. A moment later he was back to swinging with both arms, rotating around his stationary wounded leg to fend off assaults from all sides. Breazeal landed another shot on his right forearm, then on his other arm as he dropped the heavy sword. Only now did she bring the conculysts into range, smashing his remaining knee and leaving him face down on the marble floor. 

“Ballas is neutralized. I can be ready to leave whenever you are.” Her job complete, Breazeal filed out the door one drone at a time, the last lagging some distance behind. Ballas shouted obscenities after her, somewhat muffled by his prone position. Someone would find him eventually, when they came to clean up after the invasion was over. 

Elsewhere in the building, Margulis was approaching the door to a third holding area. The lone guard at the second had been a young woman who fainted at the sight of a Sentient fighter, which made rescuing that group of children simple. She knew she couldn’t count on everything being this easy but she could always hope. And more importantly than hope, she could take some time to be prepared. Another performance was in order, a deception to get her in the door, then there were several ways to proceed from there. She stood in front of the door and gently leaned against it, shifting her attention more toward her conculyst half. She floated back a ways down the hall and got ready to alert the person behind the door. 

“Help! Let me in! There’s a Sentient after me!” Margulis banged on the door with both fists. She heard a clatter from inside and began closing the distance between her Sentient and human parts. She increased speed as the door slid open, and with her human half took a few steps forward before swaying and falling to her knees. She had been too focused on rushing the door to maintain proper balance on two legs. The door closed again with the conculyst still outside, and Margulis took a brief moment to study the man before her as she stood up. He was young and professional-looking, with clothing clearly meant to imitate a Dax uniform. This was a man who would remain loyal to the empire to his dying breath. 

How best could she incapacitate him? Beating him unconscious would do the trick, but her fists would not be sufficient for the task. Maybe if she pretended to be drunk, that would throw off his expectations as well as explain her fall. That could be the ruse that helped get the rest of herself inside. She reached out to clasp his arm, intentionally stumbling a step towards the door release button. Margulis looked the man in the eyes and said, just a little too loud, “You saved me!”

The guard stepped back, and as her grip on his arm broke, Margulis took another half step toward the button. “Are you okay?” he asked. “Do you need help getting that thing off your head?” 

“No, no, I’m fine, I’m better than fine,” Margulis said dreamily. Suddenly changing topics, she asked him, “Are you a member of an endangered plant species?” 

“Huh? Why would I… No, I’m not a plant. I think you need help.” The man’s worried expression changed to unease and one hand drifted toward the knife on his belt. 

“Oh you poor thing, don’t you know why that’s bad? You should always want to be an endangered species.” Margulis’s words dripped with mock concern. 

The guard backed away further and in a low voice said, “And why is that?” There was another question in his eyes, asking himself how long the alarms would sound, how long until he could send this crazy woman away. 

Margulis suddenly changed tone again, this time to the most innocent voice she could muster. “Because I would never hurt a rare plant.” She didn’t wait for the implication of her words to sink in. She stepped back and jabbed her elbow into the door release button on the wall behind her, and slumped down until she was resting on the floor so she could pour all of her attention into her other body. 

Now fully in conculyst form, she rushed inside and took a swing at the guard with a club. He ducked under the assault, then in an unexpected move, jumped forward to tackle her. Margulis spun back and forth to shake him off but he held tight. Only after he released one hand’s grip to fumble for something in his pocket did she send him sprawling on the ground. 

The man didn’t immediately try to get back up. Instead he focused on dialing numbers into a communicator, routing a signal through the main computer in his office to whatever command he reported to. “Cell 2-1-N,” he gasped. “Sentients—”

Margulis brought a club down toward his hand but the man snatched it out of the way just in time. “Human traitor,” he hissed into the device, and Margulis instantly regretted not going for his head when she had the chance. “They want the—” This time a hit connected, coming down on his left shoulder with a crunch. The guard rolled away and got to his knees, preparing to run, but the pain of a broken collarbone slowed him down. Margulis’s club arm cracked against the back of his head and he collapsed to the floor. 

Margulis took a moment to realign herself after neglecting her human body during the struggle. She would need to be in a familiar form when she met the imprisoned children. She stretched briefly to regain feeling in all her limbs, then rolled the guard over and checked his pulse. He was alive and breathing, but showed no signs of waking up. There was no key ring on his belt or in his pockets, but the door to the small office here was unlocked and the keys lay in plain sight on his desk. Margulis hurried to open the cell door so she could get away from here. Orokin reinforcements could arrive at any moment and she was not prepared to deal with them. 

There were only eight kids in this group, mostly huddled together in a back corner as Margulis entered. 

“Woshin, is that you? Do you remember me?” Margulis called out softly to a boy of maybe ten years. She wished she had had the chance to spend time with the whole crew of survivors from the Zariman Ten-Zero, but recognizing even a quarter of them was better than none. The Orokin probably thought that shuffling them around would help stop the formation of organized groups like the hunting parties that had roamed the derelict Zariman, but Margulis’s studies had convinced her the children’s Void enhancements actually gave them some form of short-range telepathy. Any experience one had they could pass on to others, and to more after they were sent to another cell. 

“Come, quickly. I’m getting you out of here. It’s just me today, Rosalind and Yamanaka are with others at the moment. That’s right, all together now. It’s going to be okay.”

Margulis led the kids out in a line, all holding hands to stay together just like the other groups. As soon as she rounded the corner into the front area, she felt a small hand twist out of hers and brush against her sleeve as the first child raised his arm to point at the conculyst floating motionless by the door. Margulis watched in horror through the drone’s sensors, paralyzed by shock, as a brilliant blue spike of energy lanced out of the child’s hand to strike the wall just beside her. The beam winked out but the boy’s hand remained raised, gathering power for another assault. 

“No!” Margulis forced the word out with leaden muscles and moved to interpose her human form between her other body and the child. “Don’t shoot!” Her heart was racing and she struggled to pull herself out of the trance. This untamed essence of the Void was the same energy that had blinded her and left scars across much of her chest and arms, and her subconscious wanted no part of facing it again. The children never meant to hurt her, of course, but their time on the Zariman and treatment thereafter had left them hypersensitive to danger and with fight or flight reflexes heavily biased toward fight. 

Pushing through the fog in her mind, Margulis stammered out another few words. “That’s… it’s with me.” It was true enough; there was no need to confuse people by saying the drone literally  _ was _ her. The boy at the front of the line slowly lowered his hand but kept a wary eye on the conculyst. Margulis breathed a sigh of relief and shook her head to clear it. “I’m sorry for not warning you,” she said to the group of kids. “This Sentient is friendly. It won’t hurt you. Watch this.” She focused most of her awareness into the human body and walked over to place one arm around the drone, then shifted her balance the other way to return the gesture with a metal club. 

“Come on now, we need to hurry. Everyone stay close to me, okay? The robot will take up the rear.” She gathered the kids by the door, and when everyone was ready, she pressed the button and called out, “Follow me, quick as you can!” The group dashed through gilded halls toward the waiting transport ship. Fifty meters… seventy-five… a hundred. That far again and they’d be free. 

“Halt!” Two voices shouted the same word from behind the group. Margulis whirled around to look, turning both human and Sentient halves so she wouldn’t make herself too disoriented. A pair of Dax had their Skanas drawn, the elegant blades glittering in the light as they advanced. From the looks of their uniforms, these were bodyguard Dax who served a single Orokin elite, likely sent by whoever the cell guard’s report had reached. Unlike the soldier Dax who responded to the initial alert, bodyguards typically were not permitted to carry firearms within Orokin halls; however this made them no less dangerous. There was only one sure way to keep them away from the escaping children: giving them a Sentient drone to deal with. 

Conculysts spun in circles, or so Margulis had always seen in battle footage on the news. She supposed she might as well give these soldiers the same treatment. It would be exactly what her foes expected, but it certainly did seem like an effective way to deal with multiple enemies at once. The difficult part would be coordinating between her two bodies… 

Margulis drifted toward the Dax and shut off the conculyst’s camera as she extended both arms wide and began to spin in place. She still felt dizzy, but the lack of double vision lessened the feeling enough for her to continue onward with the children. She stumbled every now and then, her path down the corridors gently arcing to one side in between repeated corrections. Once she and the kids rounded the next corner, she paused a moment to look through the drone’s sensors. One Dax was still standing near her, sword up in a guard position, while the other had broken off to pursue her other half. 

That wouldn’t do at all. Margulis stopped her flailing and chased after the second Dax, preparing to uppercut her ringed helmet the moment she got in range. According to Breazeal that would incapacitate him… but these were trained fighters she was dealing with, determined to take down any robotic threat. The Dax, warned by her companion, rolled to the side and came up again with her sword bared before the club’s swing was half complete. Seizing the opportunity to strike while Margulis was off balance, she brought her blade down directly on the joint where the drone’s other, motionless club was attached to the main body. 

Margulis felt a jolt of pain in her left wrist as the drone’s damage was translated into a form her mind was used to. She reflexively looked down at her human hand, but nothing was wrong with it. She called out to the children, “Keep going, we want the courtyard straight ahead. I’ll be right behind you,” then focused her attention on her robotic side, shutting off sight to the human part as she slowly walked in a straight line. 

She took a swing at the Dax who had struck her, and out of the corner of her camera she caught a glimpse of the other one circling around behind her. The Dax ducked under her club and made a stab toward her central sensor unit, but missed and stepped back to maintain her guard. Margulis spun around to keep the one behind her at bay and discovered her body felt off balance now. The pain in her left wrist had subsided into a dull throb, a reminder rather than an alarm, signifying that she had lost one of her weapons. She raised her remaining club to attack again and–

A searing pain shot through her right leg and quickly spread to her entire body. Margulis turned her sensors downward and saw the hooked blade of a Skana protruding from the middle of her thigh. Electric arcs flashed between her exposed circuitry and the metal blade. She was sinking toward the ground a little, as half of the drone’s levitation apparatus was either destroyed or cut off from power. Seizing the opportunity, the other Dax slashed at her upper body, inflicting many deep gashes as Margulis thrashed about trying to dislodge the sword and regain control. 

Margulis’s thoughts moved sluggishly, as if through a thick fog. She knew she was in extreme pain, but at the same time the sensation felt distant, almost like the pain wasn’t there. Or almost like  _ she _ wasn’t there? Her mind felt cramped, shoved into a space too small for her even as her physical conculyst form was on the floor of a wide open hall. Her vision flickered and lagged, a symptom of the damage for which the pain was merely an indicator. The words “Pull back! Leave it!” were projected into her mind but they barely registered through the haze. The mental walls continued to close in around her until it became unbearable, a new form of agony which overrode the simulated pain of the drone’s damage sensors. 

“Out! Now!” A force pulled at her consciousness, and Margulis was too weak to resist. Her awareness of the hall, and the Dax now raising her own heavy club against her, faded to black. And just like that, the inescapable, crushing pressure she had felt was gone. 

Margulis awoke on the floor of a ship, with a woman kneeling over her. She blinked a few times and brought her eyes into focus. 

“Oh, it’s you. For a moment I thought I might have died and landed in heaven.”

Breazeal smiled and helped Margulis up. “Well, you kind of did in the sense that your drone was destroyed. You never engaged the adaptation circuits. But no, you’re still alive. And there’s no time to rest yet, your human body isn’t safe. You need to get back down there and finish escaping — unless you want me to take care of it?”

“No, I… I can do it. Send me back.” 

Margulis awoke on the floor of an Orokin hall, with eight children standing over her. A cheer went up from the kids as she sat up and readjusted to her surroundings. She had made it to only fifteen feet from the courtyard door when she’d been yanked out of both bodies to protect her. She scrambled to her feet and glanced around, but the halls were empty save for the small crowd around her. 

“Hey, sorry I scared you guys. I guess I just lost my balance for a second there.” Indeed, the balance between occupying a human form versus a conculyst had tipped significantly, and then been pushed back the other way. “Come on, the ship’s right here. We need to go.”

She led the children into the waiting Sentient ship and was immediately surrounded by a clamor of voices. 

“There’s more of us here!”

“I remember them!”

“Elya, I’m back!”

The door swung shut behind them the moment everyone was inside. The ship’s takeoff was gentle, rising vertically out of the courtyard before engaging the main engines. There was a jolt of acceleration and they were off, the half lit disk of Lua shrinking in the distance. 


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song in this chapter should be sung to the melody of This Is What You Are, from the official Warframe soundtrack. It can be found at https://warframe.bandcamp.com/track/this-is-what-you-are, and is also linked in the relevant section of the chapter.

“So, what now?” Margulis reclined in a comfortable chair that she had conjured in the mind-ship. Her physical body was doing the same, left unoccupied in a quiet corner for a while. 

Next to her Breazeal sat on an invisible chair or perhaps on nothing at all, once again abusing the lack of physical laws in this place to achieve the visual effect she wanted. “Right now I think we all need to rest and recover from that ordeal.”

“Yeah… I think we can call the Lotus’s first mission a complete success, but I don’t really want to do that again any time soon. I passed my excitement quota for the day hours ago.”

“House arrest must be thrilling,” Breazeal said dryly. 

Margulis chuckled. “You know what I mean. If I ever needed more proof that I am not a good fighter, I guess that was it.” 

“Don’t be too hard on yourself, you’ll get better with practice. Or maybe you won’t, and that’s okay too. There’s a lot more to protecting people than just fighting off direct attackers.”

“Honestly I’m not sure I want to practice fighting. After taking a beating like that I really just want to stay away from the action for a good long while. I can handle the talking part for you instead.”

Breazeal’s lips twisted into a grimace. “Losing drones hurts,” she said. “I wish I could say that also gets better with experience, but it really doesn’t. It’s going to be that bad every time.”

“That long battle must have been really hard on you then. Are you okay? How many of your drones got destroyed back there?”

“It’s fine,” Breazeal blurted out. “I’m fine, really. Don’t worry about it.”

Margulis’s eyes narrowed and she got up to stand over her Sentient friend. “Breazeal, tell me. How many drones did you lose?”

Breazeal averted her gaze and covered her face with one hand. She sighed, and without looking up murmured, “Twenty-seven.”

Margulis gasped. “You… you went through all that… all that pain,  _ twenty-seven times… _ for me? You didn’t have to do that…” She offered Breazeal a hand and pulled her to her feet. “Come here, you need a hug.” 

“But I—”

“No complaining.” She pulled her friend into a tight embrace and rested her head on Breazeal’s shoulder. “You’ve earned this hug and you will accept being comforted until I say you’re done.” 

A long moment passed between them, with neither moving or saying a word. Finally Margulis felt the Sentient’s arms wrap around her as her friend pressed against her and whispered in her ear, “Thank you. Somehow I… I actually do feel better.” Then silence fell again as both were content to bask in the warm glow of mutual affection permeating the mind-ship. 

“...I hate to interrupt such a pleasant human ritual, but we may have a slight issue outside.” Breazeal extricated herself from Margulis’s embrace and conjured an image around them of space, their two ships denoted by blue dots in the center and Lua some distance behind them. “You see, my father is still assaulting the Orokin capitol.”

“Uh-huh.” Margulis nodded along. 

“And he’s doing such a good job of destroying things that the humans have called in reinforcements.”

“Okay…”

“Which have emerged from the Void all around us.” A formation of yellow dots appeared in the projection. 

“Ah. That would be a slight issue. We’re cloaked though, aren’t we?”

“We are, but so are they, and that creates a different problem. It’s a technology we adapted from the Orokin, this cloaking aura that doesn’t rely on the Void. We can’t use the stronger individual version because touching the Void feels, in Gantus’s words, ‘like one is being riven in half’. Ironically we’re actually more invisible now than we were before the human ships showed up, but if we move in a different direction than they do it will cause unmistakeable eddies in the aura field and they will discover us. Right now I’m buying us a little time by flying with them, but I really don’t know what to do.”

“Can you slowly drift us to the edge of the group then peel off?” Margulis suggested. “Wait, if you can see them through the cloak, shouldn’t they be able to see us already too?”

“Oh, I can’t see them right now, and they can’t see us or even each other. I just took note of the light bursts when they jumped to normal space, and I can feel the laminar flow around these two ships that says we’re not alone.”

“Hmm. Okay then… You know, what if this isn’t such a bad thing? What if we do want to be back at Lua?” Margulis paced around, formulating a plan out loud. “Our alliance here is a wildcard. If we announce that we’re together, both sides will have to recalculate their strategy and we can take advantage of the confusion. We can rescue more kids — wait, no… I think I’ve got it! The kids — by rescuing these few, we’ve already saved them all!” Margulis gestured wildly in her excitement, while Breazeal watched in increasing puzzlement. 

“Don’t you see? The Orokin don’t know  _ why _ we took them! They’re so vain and self-obsessed, it will never occur to them that we’re just being nice! They’ll assume we intend to weaponize their Void powers somehow and they’ll keep the rest alive to try to figure it out themselves. And they’re so desperate to win this war, I think they’d keep trying for years even when there’s not actually any purpose to be found. All we have to do is tell them what we’ve done today then get out of there.”

Margulis looked back at her friend to find Breazeal beaming in admiration. “You know, Margulis,” the Sentient said, “you are a  _ brilliant _ strategist. Don’t look at me like that, you are. I always overthink things, trying to find the perfect foolproof plan, and then I run out of time and have to either cancel the whole endeavor or fall back on the same brute-force tactics as my father. You run in with half a plan and make up the other half as you go, and I don’t understand how that works but it does. You know humans better than I do, so if your half a plan says we reveal ourselves and tell everyone we took the kids, then that’s exactly what we’ll do. Just one more thing you should probably know: I just intercepted a transmission from Lua to this fleet around us just now, and all I could make out was ‘priority gold channel’ before the encryption changed to something I don’t recognize. Any idea what that might be?”

“That means there’s an Executor on one end, or maybe both. There’s only seven of them but somehow they manage to be everywhere. Well, I guess now there’s only six.” 

“What? No, Ballas is alive. I just beat him up.” 

Margulis’s voice carried surprise and disappointment in equal measure. “Really? Why didn’t you kill him?”

“You didn’t tell me I could,” Breazeal answered simply. “He’s your ex, not mine. I thought maybe you wanted that honor. I’ve got the sensory recording right here if you want to experience the fight yourself and pretend you’re the one hitting him.” 

“One day I hope I have the privilege of sewing his shroud, but no, I don’t think I can kill him myself. Even after all he’s done. If he attacks you again though, you don’t have to hold back. Now if you’ll excuse me, I want to go check in on the children before we make contact.”

Margulis let her awareness slip back to the physical realm. Her body felt stiff and sore all over, more than it had the previous times she’d left it unattended for a while, and it dawned on her that she was exhausted. Just one more crisis, she thought to herself. One last confrontation, and then with luck she could finally rest. Whether it was actually late or she had just had a busy day she couldn’t tell, in the constant flourescent light of the ship. 

Ten steps down the hall brought her to the entrance of the kids’ area. She rounded the corner and caught sight of three dozen children laughing and playing, some drawing on a huge roll of paper, some wrestling, and more than a few curled up on beds and couches, piled over each other like a litter of kittens. On the far side of the room, a young girl jumped to her feet as Margulis walked in, then vanished in a quick burst of blue light. 

An instant later, the girl reappeared right in front of Margulis and threw her arms around her waist. “Margy, you’re back!” 

Startled, Margulis stumbled a step back. “Uh, hi, yes, I’m back. Hello, Nia.” Then, to Breazeal she sent a quick mental remark: “Don’t you dare call me Margy. I can and will refer to you as Breezy if I have to.” There was no response except for a slight hum as the air filtration systems kicked into high gear. 

“I just wanted to check in, see how you all were settling in,” Margulis addressed the group. “Looks like a lot of you are as tired as I am. It’s been a long day, so why don’t we have a nice song and then go to bed? I know I could use some rest.” Several of the kids perked up and paused their activities to listen. “Now, I know some of you have heard this one before and some haven’t, so if you know the words, you can teach them to your new friends.”

Margulis hummed a short introductory melody: six notes to set the tempo and the key, the same pattern one more time, and then she launched into the first verse of [the lullaby that she had sung so many times before, to cell after cell of frightened children seeking comfort in the cold dark.](https://warframe.bandcamp.com/track/this-is-what-you-are)

 

Do not fear the darkness

Mother's song is here

You are safe among us

All is well

 

A few young voices joined in, singing the response that they had learned. Only a handful on the first line, but the chorus grew to encompass half the group by the end.

 

We won't fear the darkness

Mother keeps us safe

No evil can touch us

All is well

 

Now it was Margulis’s turn again and it would remain so until the end, so the children could focus on listening and resting. A swell of energy in the words brought her audience’s full attention, distracting them from all the worries of the world. 

 

Rest now, lay your head down

Sleep now, let the world fade

Dream now, happy memories

Rest now, for tomorrow

 

Though the world outside burns

Mother's arms are safe

Here there is no pain and

All is well

 

Pay no heed to voices

From the Void inside

I will send them away

All is well

 

Rest now, lay your head down

Sleep now, let the world fade

Dream now, happy memories

Rest now, for tomorrow

 

By now most of those who had not already been asleep were drifting off, their minds filling with dreams of the excitement and adventure that the Zariman catastrophe had so unjustly denied them. Margulis sent a quick note to Breazeal asking her to gradually turn the lights down in this room. 

 

Rest now, lay your head down

Sleep now, let the world fade

Dream now, happy memories

Rest now, for tomorrow

 

Do not fear the madness

Or the war outside

Nothing here can hurt you

I will watch

Over you

Through the dark

Sleep, now

 

“And always remember,” Margulis said softly as she moved toward the door, “Dream not of what you are… but of what you want to be. For dreams bring us a passing glimpse of immortality, of the virtue and glory toward which we may strive during our waking lives. And while you dream, I will protect you.” She slipped out and quietly shut the door behind her, and made her way back to her own room. She settled into a padded armchair and made the now familiar leap into virtual space to speak with Breazeal. “We should be just about back now, right? Let’s set up a camera so I can lie to the Orokin one more time.”

Breazeal walked over and with a wave of one hand stretched Margulis’s chair out sideways into a couch, so she could sit down next to her. She had conjured up yet another new outfit since the last time Margulis had seen her, this time a pale lavender dress that faded into blue at the bottom, with a large blue-green diamond shaped brooch at the neckline and a copy of the same golden hair ornaments that Margulis wore. “Are you absolutely sure you want to do this?” she asked. “I don’t want to see you or the kids get hurt if this goes badly.” 

“I’m sure,” Margulis replied. “I know your dad will be there and that scares you, but you know what? I’m scared too, and I probably wouldn’t try this if you weren’t with me. And I’m not just saying that because you saved my life. We’re in this together now, and I think we’ll be okay.”

A long moment passed in silence, and Margulis felt a weight gently come to rest against her side. “I am the luckiest Sentient in the universe,” Breazeal said, “because you are here with me. I was so afraid you wouldn’t come. I don’t know if I could do any of this alone either. You don’t know what the other Sentients are like — I can’t stand up to them, they’d have me fighting and killing again like they do. I’m so tired of all the fighting.” Still leaning on Margulis’s shoulder, Breazeal put one arm around her friend. “We’re in range and there’s an oculyst in front of your human body. How do you want to do this?”

Margulis’s reply was just a single word: “Together.” She returned her friend’s side embrace and sank back to the physical world, this time dragging Breazeal along with her until they both jointly inhabited the human form. Margulis reached out with her mind and felt around for the oculyst, sifting through the arrays of identical drones until she found one whose visuals matched what she knew it had to be seeing. She latched on and took a minute to reorient herself; it was still not easy to get used to seeing double, much less with her halves each viewing each other. 

“I assume sending a transmission is instinctual too? I just flex my radio muscle and it happens?” Margulis asked. She could feel the Sentient’s wonder at the experience of being human for the first time, and mixed in with it came a flash of affirmation. 

Suddenly her throat tightened, and a word took shape independently of Margulis’s will. “Yes.” The words continued, slowly at first but gaining fluidity as Breazeal got the hang of using her vocal cords. “That... should work. This feels… really weird. Like there’s a delay, between my thoughts and the sound. I have a whole idea to express but the muscles can only move so fast.”

“Hey, don’t feel too bad if you mess up,” Margulis said, telepathically so she wouldn’t disrupt her partner’s hold on the voice. “Even people who have been human all their lives trip over their own words sometimes. Let me warn you now: humans just suck at a lot of really basic tasks. Now, if you’re ready…” She gave a gentle nudge in her mind to signal that she needed control over the head and throat, but anything below the camera’s narrow focus was free for Breazeal to get familiar with. 

Opening a channel to send an audio and video feed was as easy as any other action in a Sentient drone. Margulis simply willed it into existence, and the oculyst immediately began sending data to her chosen recipient. “Hello, father. How do you like my new look?” She stifled the gasp that Breazeal’s shock threatened to produce, and sent a quick mental “I know what I’m doing” to reassure her. 

The overwhelming presence of Hunhow and all the malignance that came with it now touched her mind, and Margulis struggled not to recoil. “Puppeting a dead human body? An ingenious idea, Natah! You shall strike terror into their feeble fleshy minds with every word.” 

“I am about to do just that,” Margulis replied. “I intend to trick them, and I would ask that you please not interfere with my schemes.”

“Of course, my child. You sound different today… Is everything okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine, merely excited to try out my newest adaptation. It is time for me to tell a great many lies…” With that, Margulis shut off the video feed, but she could still sense Hunhow’s presence on the mental link. There were fainter echoes of several more consciousnesses as well, other Sentients who simply had no drones around Lua at the moment. But this was not the time to try out Sentient telepathy, no matter how fascinating it seemed. 

She sent a radio ping towards the largest Orokin vessel in orbit but got no response. She tried again, willing the connection harder in the hope that she would not be ignored. This time her hail was acknowledged, and a moment later a two-way connection was established between the two ships. Margulis immediately spoke first to preempt the Orokin commander. 

“Attention, defense fleet! This is the Nelumbo Ten-One, commanded by Archimedean Breazeal. Do not fire on us.” To the real Breazeal she sent a mental message: “Congratulations, you’ve been promoted.” 

“Executor Augusta aboard the frigate Destiny. Have you really captured and controlled a Sentient ship? Deliver your report at once.” The incoming data stream was not displayed anywhere in the ship for Margulis to look at; rather it was piped directly into the oculyst that she was wearing, and thus registered in her mind as vision without the need for any intermediate steps. As long as she ignored any visual input to her human form’s mask camera, it was as if she was standing right there in the Orokin ship speaking to the captain in person. Augusta appeared in true Executorial fashion as a fit young adult clad in gold from head to toe. Shimmering fabric trailed behind her, and even her olive skin seemed to sparkle with flecks of gold. 

“I got aboard with the help of Executor Tuvul,” Margulis explained. His help had been unwilling, but the shuttlecraft she had stolen from him had indeed served her well on her journey. “This helmet was an experimental project of his that got accelerated when the Sentients landed their ground force today. Their goal appears to have been to steal as many children of the Zariman as they could, to what nefarious purpose we do not yet know. They landed with two transport ships and left with only one. This is the other, now under my control.” She tried to mix in as many partial truths as possible; Augusta surely knew about the attack and those details would build trust in her report, but Margulis doubted she would be familiar with another Executor’s pet projects. 

“An impressive accomplishment, Archimedean. Tell me, can this be replicated? Can we turn their weapons against them as they have done to us so many times?” Augusta suddenly turned to someone outside Margulis’s field of vision. “What is it, Prime Executor?”

A teenage boy stepped into view, his bright red hair standing out against the gold of his robes. He wore a sash of pale blue, too big to fit his young frame, and Margulis knew instantly who this boy was. She frantically begged for Breazeal to take over for her. The boy ignored Executor Augusta and turned to face the viewscreen and the people behind it. “Margulis! I knew I recognized your voice. I can’t believe it, you’re alive!”

“Prime Executor Ballas, what is the meaning of this familiarity?” Augusta chastised him. A few crew members in the back of the room stopped their work to watch. 

Ballas gestured toward the screen. “I know her, I swear! Run a background check on this Breazeal person. That’s not her real name.”

“No need to check,” came a voice from the Nelumbo’s pilot. “He’s right, to an extent. This is the body and the voice of Archimedean Margulis. I’m surprised you don’t recall the name, Augusta, seeing as you sentenced her to death recently.” She waited for the recognition to show in the Executor’s eyes before continuing. “I am the Sentient Breazeal. I attacked Lua earlier today. I stole those Void-touched children. I arrived with two ships and I left with two, and this human body is now under my control.” 

With those words, the bridge of the Destiny erupted into chaos. 

“By the Void, I didn’t think that was possible!”

“That’s not the name we know for the purple ones. Are there two of them?”

“You killed Margulis, you monster! You won’t get away with this!”

“Look at me, Ballas. How could you ever hurt me?”

“Natah, just what do you think you’re doing?”

“That’s the one! What’s going on? Are they both here?”

“Shut up Hunhow, she — we — I told you to stay out of this!”

“Is this your idea of torture, leaving me alive while you desecrate her body like that?”

“Ballas, I’m becoming a little concerned about your mental state.” 

“I’m still alive, you know. And I’d take this Sentient over you any day.”

“Would everyone please just shut up!”

Augusta’s exasperated cry startled the crowd into silence. “I could hardly hear myself think over all that shouting,” she continued. “But I think I know what’s happened now. You—” She jabbed a finger towards Margulis and Breazeal. “—have played a nasty trick on us today, and we will not fall for it again. And you, Ballas… you did a good job exposing the ruse, but you’ve also made a damn fool of yourself. If this is the same Sentient that killed your previous host, that’s even worse.”

“Oh, I am,” Breazeal said. “I even have a video of the whole confrontation. I think you’ll find it… enlightening. Take a deeper look into your leader’s mind…” She opened a second data channel to the Orokin vessel and sent a copy of the sensory data collected by one of the drones which had encountered Ballas earlier. The sound of her taunting and Margulis’s convincing screams filled the ship as Augusta watched the footage. 

Internally, Margulis told her partner, “Hunhow’s figured out I’m here. He’s not happy.” She exchanged places with Breazeal to focus on the Orokin situation, sliding into front just as the recording of Ballas yelled, “I was still going to save her!” 

“Dear Ballas here has just admitted a desire to go against the will of the Seven. I do believe that counts as a charge of apostasy, isn’t that right, Executor?” Both Ballas and Augusta looked uncomfortable and eyed each other with suspicion. A crewman in the back quietly slipped out the door and shut it behind him. “Hush, my wilted love,” Margulis continued, turning the words Ballas had once said to her into a scornful mockery. “I will not protect you. May your trial be as full of suffering and shame as the one you put me through.” 

Executor Augusta slowly backed away, keeping an eye on Ballas as she moved toward the ship’s main comms panel. Her colleague seemed to be in shock, standing unmoving on the side of the bridge. From Margulis’s vantage point she could see his eyes remained bright, with the gears of political plotting still turning in his head. Might he have realized that these words could only have come from the woman he knew, and not from a Sentient impostor? 

Suddenly Augusta whirled around, pushed a single button as she lifted the earpiece up to her head, and began giving orders to whoever was on the other end. “Executor Augusta speaking. I am issuing a stay of execution for the Zariman embarrassments. Yes, all of them. Indefinitely. I want as many researchers as we can spare working on them. There’s something we’re missing there, I know it. No, not yet, there is one more thing. Inform the others that I would like to convene a Tribunal. Prime Executor Ballas. You heard me correctly. Charges of apostasy, and given his station I think treason might be on the table as well. Transmitting proof of guilt now. That will be all.” 

Augusta put the earpiece down and turned back to face Ballas, only to find the young boy holding a golden Euphona pistol leveled at her chest. Neither seemed to be paying any attention to the Sentient and her companion still watching. “Now, why’d you go and do that?” Ballas said softly. “I’ve known you for three hundred years. I voted to confirm you as Executor after Villorin died, and now you choose to betray me?” He advanced slowly but methodically, forcing Augusta back and cornering her against the comms array. “I wouldn’t have to be doing this if you’d just behaved, miss  _ Fourth _ of Seven. Everything you are now, you owe to  _ me _ , and I  _ can _ take it all away.”

Ballas shoved Augusta down against the control panel, putting his free hand on her neck and the pistol over her heart. “I am taking command of the Destiny,” he shouted at the handful of people who still remained on the bridge. “And if any crew members disagree with that, then you can follow Augusta straight into hell.”

Ballas fired. 

The connection between Orokin and Sentient ships was severed instantly as the Euphona’s powerful blast ripped into the electronics stationed behind the late Executor. Margulis reflexively pulled out of the oculyst, and tried to process what she’d just seen in familiar surroundings. “I… I didn’t think he’d do it. I mean… he’s never been like that before. How did I ever let myself fall for his charms? I’m glad I got away from him when I did.” 

“It’s not your fault,” Breazeal reassured her. Though Margulis’s senses were focused outward, she could feel a closeness as the Sentient’s mental embrace surrounded her. “You’re not responsible for his actions. And however you knew Ballas before, your past is not today. You have a whole new life ahead of you, without him in it. Look, his ship is breaking away from the fleet. He’s on the run now. Come on, we should get out of here too. My father is being a bit… difficult… right now, and I’d rather not deal with him any more for a while.”

The Nelumbo glided forward and passed between the two opposing fleets. Neither side fired a shot at them, for Hunhow would not harm his child and the Orokin had just seen this lavender vessel parked in front of an Executorial Frigate without consequence. How much knowledge of the encounter had been spread to other Orokin ships and how much Ballas took with him into exile, Margulis could not possibly guess. 

A new voice pinged in her mind, demanding her attention: Hunhow, who had listened in on the whole conversation with the Orokin. Hunhow, who knew she was there, knew that she was human and alive and on Breazeal’s ship, who knew that he could contact her on the Sentient neural link. And he was extraordinarily displeased with her presence. 

“You! Vermin infesting my child’s ship! I cannot believe I am deigning to speak with the likes of you, but your invasion of this Sentient space has left me no other choice.”

“What do you want with me?” Margulis thought back at him. 

“My child Natah seems to think that you have value far beyond that befitting a lowly human. I have just talked with zem in depth on the subject. I wish only to inform you that while you may currently be a protected plaything, when ze gets over this rebellious phase and casts you aside as ze surely will, you will meet the same fate as the rest of these pathetic beings of flesh.”

“Oh, shut up. You think I don’t know I’m on borrowed time? Breazeal saved my life and I will cherish every moment I’m lucky enough to spend with her. You, on the other hand… you’re just a glorified construction tool with an ego the size of Jupiter. May your weapons jam, and your engines leak.”

“Insolent worm! Were you not aboard Natah’s ship I would have every disgusting little organ in your body removed one by one as you watched.”

“Go ahead, I don’t need them anymore. I’ve borrowed some fighter drones before and I can do it again. Face it, asshole, you have no real power over me. I’m not scared of your blustering. I’ll outlive you purely out of spite if I have to.”

“You are but an insignificant speck next to the majesty of the Sentients! The stain of your kind shall be wrung out of this system, never to return!”

“May your sensors register threats where there are none and may they not warn you when your end approaches, so that you may waste your effort striking at ghosts and then die alone and unready, with none who will mourn your passing!”

“What foolishness to think a Sentient can die, when we are more perfect and eternal than even your parasitic Orokin!”

“Make no mistake, I’m no friend of the Orokin either. Without my help, you’d still have seven Executors to deal with instead of five. Or is subtraction just too difficult for your vast computer brain?”

“How dare you besmirch the intelligence of this greatest of species, you barely-sapient ball of water and lipids?”

“Still determined to hate me, are you? May all your hard drives fail except one, and may that one be just a little too small to hold you!”

Suddenly a strange rhythmic sound came projected over the thought-network, and it took Margulis a moment to realize that Hunhow was laughing. Or at least, he was attempting to imitate a human laugh. It was clear from the distorted, unnatural sound that people seldom were amused in his presence. “For a mere human, you have quite a fire in your heart,” he said. “You are still an enemy of my people and of me, but you have earned some respect at least. I can see why Natah chose you, and I will not try to kill you as long as you are with zem.” 

“Her name is Breazeal.” The words would have come out through gritted teeth, had Margulis been speaking aloud. “Look, Hunhow, I’m fine with you waging war on the Orokin, on all those humans who harm others with their greed. On that much we agree. But you do  _ not _ get to deadname and misgender my girlfriend.” 

Margulis carefully retracted her mental presence from the net and pinged Breazeal. “Is there any way I can block him out? I think I’ve had enough Hunhow for a lifetime.” Hunhow was still speaking to her but she ignored him now. 

“Not without blocking him from me at the same time,” Breazeal said. “But you know, I’ve had enough of him too. I’ll take care of it.” The barrage of Hunhow’s thoughts and emotions directed toward the Lotus pair suddenly ceased. The quieter background noise of distant chatter from the other Sentients shut off as well, so that Margulis and Breazeal were for the first time truly by themselves. 

Margulis stood up and staggered on weak legs over to the nearest unoccupied bed. “Are we safe now? I am so tired.” She laid down flat on her back, in the only comfortable position allowed by her bulky mask. 

“Looks like we’re free! Good job today. I couldn’t have done any of this without you.” 

“Nor I without you.” Margulis shut off her mask camera. Instead of the blackness that led to sleep, she found herself automatically returning to her shared mindspace with Breazeal. Her mental form stood up from the control chair and turned around to face her companion. “Well this is new,” she said. “Do you suppose I need to conjure a bed and get in it here in order to sleep?”

Breazeal shrugged. “No clue. My species doesn’t sleep at all. I’m a little curious myself about how it works though, especially given our link. I wonder if I’ll have to clean up subconsciously conjured dream objects all night…” 

Margulis faced an empty space and focused on the form of a bed, imagining that one existed in front of her and willing it to come into existence. She looked down, then when she raised her eyes again it was there. She settled in but didn’t close her eyes just yet, as Breazeal came over to sit on the edge of the bed with her. 

“Thanks for sticking up for me to my father,” she said. “I thought he’d at least be okay with me having a gender, you know, since he has one too. But it’s like he was determined to use my old name as many times as possible.”

“It’s okay. I’ll yell at him as many times as it takes until he gets it. I’m sorry I called you my girlfriend back there though. I meant to say friend, but also emphasize that you’re a woman now, and… I guess I just said the wrong word.”

Breazeal was silent for a long time, then finally asked softly, “Would you like to have said the right word?”

“Um, yeah, I guess? I could have just said friend.”

“No, no, I mean… Would you like what you said to be the right word?”

Now it was Margulis’s turn to fall silent. The puzzlement in her eyes was broken by a brief moment of shock, then returned to confusion. “Are you… asking me out? Have you been flirting with me?”

Breazeal burst out laughing. She looked Margulis dead in the eyes and raised one eyebrow. “I’ve only been flirting with you since the moment we met,” she deadpanned. She released a mock sigh and continued, “Why did you think I picked you over some other human? There are billions of you to choose from, after all.”

“Uh… because I worked with the children and never gave up on them?”

“Okay, yes, that too, but one of the reasons is that I just like you. I wanted to get to know you, to become friends with you, and maybe… Anyway, I can’t say I wasn’t warned, but I really didn’t expect you to be quite that oblivious.”

“Warned how?” Margulis reached out to touch Breazeal’s hand. “I suppose all that matters is that I know now, and I approve. Let’s be girlfriends.” An aura of pure joy surrounded both women as Breazeal shuffled closer. Where one’s own emotions ended and shared feelings from the other began, neither could tell. 

“Before I met you, I read a lot of human books. I suppose that’s what prompted my realization that not all humans were bad. One of these things I read was a scientific study titled something like ‘How to pick up women when you’re not a man’ by an Archimedean Suda, and it said some people don’t notice or can rationalize away even the most obvious flirtation. Her experimental methods were far from scientifically rigorous, but she certainly did get results. Maybe I should send a message thanking her for the advice.” 

“Suda the historian and anthropologist? I’ve heard of her. I met her once at a conference… oh no. So  _ that’s _ why she invited me out for tea after the presentations. I can’t believe I turned her down like that.” 

“Sounds like you’ve been blind since long before you lost your eyes,” Breazeal joked. She settled down next to Margulis and propped her head up on one hand. “I’m glad that condition’s finally cleared up. So… how exactly does being girlfriends work?”

“Well, that depends.” Margulis stared intently into Breazeal’s eyes. “That constructed human form does everything a real one can, right? With something that beautiful I sure hope it’s functional too.”

“It should. It was a weird feeling at first, but it matches my experience of piloting yours.” Breazeal grinned playfully. “Just remember, it’s your own fault I’m pretty. You gave me this appearance. I guess your subconscious already knew you liked me.” 

“Well then, in that case…” Margulis stretched forward and pressed her lips against Breazeal’s for several seconds, then pulled away. “How’s that for an introduction to what human bodies are capable of? Shh, I can already feel your answer. There’s more where that came from…”

Across the solar system, lavender fighter drones everywhere slowed down and retreated from combat, and those not in active use fell to the ground as their pilot’s concentration on the outside world was broken. Throughout the Nelumbo Ten-One and its accompanying transport ship, the lights flickered and went out. 

Within the darkness love reigned, and banished fear and worry. Wrapped in each other’s arms, the human and Sentient pair were content in the knowledge that they were safe, and no force in the solar system could hurt them or drive them apart. All was well. 


End file.
